The Guardian A new Ring for the Edinburgh Festival, the first in Scotland for more than 30 years, and the omens are very good. The finance may be in place, then, but that doesn't mean this is a lavish, no expense-spared production, far from it. The Rhinemaidens, real temptresses in stockings and suspenders, cavort in a Rhine suggested by abstract, translucent waves, around which they lead the bespectacled, bedraggled Alberich a merry dance. Within this framework, every character is sharply defined.
Every image is thoughtful, and potent, nothing jars or intrudes, nothing is fussy.
There's no fussiness in the performance either. There are no great Wagnerian voices on show here, though Matthew Best, as a wracked and devious Wotan might well mature into one. Peter Sidhom's Alberich is both sly and wretched, more than usually sympathetic, Anne Mason's handbag-wielding Fricka is not to be denied. Solid, intelligent performances all round, and a very good start to a project that promises more riches and insights to come.