No resting on laurels: Longborough kicks off a new Ring

Back in its early days, when Longborough Festival Opera announced their plans to produce a full Ring Cycle, anyone who could be bothered to pay attention laughed. Putting on Wagner's binge-watching extravaganza of four giant operas ... all needing big voices, a huge orchestra and exceptional skill ... is a challenge for the world's greatest opera companies. The idea of Wagner at English country house opera was comic; surely The Ring would be impossible for a young company operating on a shoestring in a 500-seat renovated chicken shed.

By 2013, laughter had turned to admiration as Longborough produced a much-acclaimed Ring Cycle. They are now officially "on the map", not just for country house opera but for a fanatical sub-culture of Wagner aficionados who travel around the world to see the canon. Over the years I've become used to sitting near Germans who've flown in for the production, or people telling me that they'd seen this in Bayreuth and the Longborough production is much better.

So you'd think that after their enormous triumph, Longborough might take it easy for a while. Work through all of Wagner's other operas. Maybe put on revivals of their acclaimed Ring elements. Nope. Starting this year, they're doing it all from scratch. New teams, new interpretations, building to a new Ring Cycle in 2023.

When I first heard the news I was a disappointed. There are Wagner works Longborough has yet to put on, and that I haven't seen on stage. Why not go for those? It seemed too soon for repetition. Last night, Das Rheingold convinced me I'm wrong.

This is the one element of The Ring I hadn't yet seen, I confess, so it was fresh territory for me anyway. But this first installment of the remake shows that, filled with a new confidence and learning lessons from the first time through, Longborough's ambition is to better its own success. They're likely to succeed.

The most noticeable improvement is in production values. With its small performance space, limited budgets and lack of any real backstage, Longborough will always be constrained. Their first Ring Cycle had an austere industrial chic, at times almost a bare stage. This time around we have much more to look at. An ascending circle of rocks with a backdrop of video effects gave us a convincing watery grotto for the Rhine maidens, then expanded into multiple levels with sinister red light later to conjure Alberich's grim mines. Video and lighting continue throughout to expand the universe beyond the small space. Costuming also has a lot more visual interest, especially the Rhine maidens' sinuous silver gowns that are part mermaid, part flapper. Overall, the style is Victorian Steampunk ... something we've seen work before at Longborough, most notably in Alcina. It's still a long way from my fantasy of Peter Jackson (of Lord of the Rings fame) art directing The Ring, but it works.

Music and voices are a given at Longborough and they delivered as usual. Anthony Negus remains at the helm of the orchestra, playing a score that isn't as memorable as the other three installments of The Ring but still has plenty of sweeping drama and poignant beauty. I was particularly impressed with Mark Stone's Alberich, whose powerful voice took us on a delicious descent into greed and depravity, and Pauls Putnins as the giant Fasolt, maybe the only truly good guy in the piece and therefore destined to die for love. The greatest delight was Mark Le Brocq's Loge (aka Loki).

Wagner's all about big and bold, deep and rich. He doesn't give us much by way of light, cheerful tenors. (Probably the biggest difference from Italian opera.) Le Brocq's crystalline notes are like sunshine cutting through the gloom. Even his costume brings a lighter tone: a bright red frock coat against everyone else's dark colours. And his character is a delight. Loge's machinations drive the plot, maintain interest and, at times, offer welcome comic relief ... something I've never seen in a Wagner opera. He is Das Rheingold's Tyrion Lannister. Why the composer didn't carry him through as a major character in the other operas is a mystery. They would have been much improved by his presence.

Such an opinion, of course, would be heresy to many in the audience. In the 10 seasons since we discovered Longborough I've seen enough Wagner to put me in a very small subset of humanity. I've come to appreciate the genius of the works, but I confess (shock! horror!) that I have still never managed to make it through a full performance without a short nap. We may now officially be on the opera's Patron list, but I'm a cretin compared to most of the people who make the pilgrimage here. The Ring started as a way to woo my husband-to-be, and it's grown on me. I like to think that my relationship and Longborough's productions are both getting better as the years go by.