to a former slate mine in northern wales in our series underground europe to have the same good time. germany's famous by a poet festival opens on thursday with a brand new production of the opera tom hoisin the story of a failed minstrel copy tween the hedonistic venus and the pure princess elizabeth is seen as an allegory of the classic romantic conflict between spiritual and carnal love but this production aims to prove that it's much more than just that. and the minstrel contest cancelled this year's new production of record wagner's romantic opera takes a monkey meteor approach videos open up a new perspective on the action. i'm going

to fulfill in our contest takes place on 2 levels you get close to the characters for example when elizabeth and time has a reunite you see backstage the emotions this box for time horses opponents you see what effect these performances have you don't only see the consequences but also a kind of emotional as well as a very concrete backstage story. of concrete objects that story directed to be a scratch that has also incorporated the by rote festival theatre itself into his production inside the scene his fight over love and lust while outside tom has his weird artist friends set about occupying nevada in a temple proclaiming freedom of art in the good old atticus tradition. you. get into your it's not about 2 conflicting concepts of love and life but rather about 10 hoy's are reflecting on the role of art should the artist aim to please

the satisfied of a close by submitting to aesthetic rules or is art about something into twined with real life an artistic expression that we aims to change something in society that suspects that when wagner rotund was there in 1945 it was not yet clear whether he would go down in history as a revolutionary all as an established composer heroic tennis stephen gold has sung the role of tom who is a more than a 100 times but it's his 1st time in pyrite with a new production. so i was a little skeptic sometimes when a new concept is presented to me but i was 1st really. i have to say within just one day of being here i was totally convinced to be as proud. in crafts as production tom why is the lives out his supposed to total freedom with a group of outsiders transsexuals and little people until he realizes that this life too can be a type of prison it was clear right from the very beginning when we were doing the

staging that i needed to reach out and try to come up with something less. angry and completely defeated it's a way of looking up myself. as serious. part of our christian group. on the clone. i come out as a cloud. by sending tomboys or and venus together on a crazy road trip to be a scrap so has driven wagners tomboys into the present. very exciting indeed and here to tell us more about what's going on in bio artist my colleague melissa hall right welcome melissa and there's such an incredible culture surrounding the by what festival tell us why it is such a big deal in germany yet the buy right fiscal house is like

a temple for wagner love as in no other oprah house is the is the present so deeply anchored in the pos is the theatre the focus yet focuses solely on the work of ricard zog now i would still run by the wagner family the festival is run by his great granddaughter naturally. so there's a deep sense of history that i can imagine that if you are a director or a performer and you manage to rise up to this level in the opera world that's a challenge but it's also an on the to to perform them absolutely and even takes years to get a ticket i've heard is that still the case if it takes like 3 or 4 years to get a ticket on the level so this is to be a scot says de doo in bio it as we heard there as a director new production of time has the tell us what's special about it. i think there's a lot of humor there i also like the way he's using these multimedia devices i like the way he uses this film and i like i like this insight into what's happening in

the scene within the characters between the characters i also like that they take over the fiscal house itself since that's quite there's a lot of you know that thing on my device yeah i mean it's not something that's particularly new in germany see it we've seen this. therefore but i think he does it in a well in a good way. to see remains to be seeing. that it was very exciting yeah we didn't know until later that i wrote fishville house is steeped in tradition and a lot of the audience members that go there they have very clear ideas about how they should be how it should be performed how it should be solved and if they don't like what they see they're not hesitant in you know letting people know people have been booed off you know scenes like that have happened that tell us just quickly about town has a himself played by american by the american tenor stephen go yes stephen got his from boston and yet he's one of the most one of the most sought after heroic

tennis in the world today quite an expert on wagner he is an expert on wagner he made his debut in 2004 playing tom who is a. festival in 2004 he actually started as a musical singer so he did like he did i think 8 years of phantom of the opera before really moving before really moving into opera such an interesting transition indeed conductor valery givens also there for the 1st time everybody environment like likes a good contra caesar that that'll be interesting by what festival is on until august 28th i believe in liberty to production so a feast for wagner fans thanks very much melissa thanks for those insights. well even though royal titles were abolished at the start of the weimar republic prince of prussia wants his royal heirlooms back the great great grandson of germany's

last hen the 2nd has filed claims for the return of part of the families the state including a permanent right of residency at a palace in pottstown on the state of brandenburg wants to hear nothing of it and here's why. there's a lot more evidence of the city's prussian past these days since germany decided to go ahead with the rebuilding of the palace but relations between the former noble family and the german state are not so good this is the great great grandson of germany's last kaiser the 2nd. prince of russia is the current head of the family his dispute with the authorities about former family properties has recently escalated the prince is demanding free use of the sicilian palace which has just completed a 10000000 euro. policy is to keep these places open to the

public residents' rights or a right of use would be incompatible with this. but that's not all. are also demanding furniture holdings and even old masters. in the weimar republic the whole solomons were awarded properties palaces and cultural artifacts but after the 2nd world war the russians classified the hohenzollerns as war criminals and confiscated the properties it's mostly these properties of the subject of the raul the hohenzollerns did indeed play a role in the weimar republic vilhelm was a nazi party and a member and a big fan of adult. crown prince vilhelm didn't join the nazi party but called on people to vote. for hitler and posted that he had added 2000000 votes. most historians agree that the huns solon's helped bring the nazis to power but the

family is now disputing this with good reason since 1904 parties who significantly pushed the nazis are not allowed to receive compensation talks between state bodies and the hohenzollerns went on for 4 hours. until i am confident we came step closer to the common goal of both songs to reach an agreement that satisfies both sides and is the are exploring in the matter of the powerless and out of court settlement might now be possible say the whole in silence. will keep an eye on a lot well for our serious underground europe we head to northern wales where a vestige of the country's once thriving slate industry has been repurposed in a very original way a slate caverns west of shrewsbury now house. rainy and playground with a labyrinth of trampling offering families what they call the ultimate underground

adventure. this part of northern wales near the snowdonia national park is famed for its picturesque villages mountains and valleys. beneath the surface however in a form a straight line is a different kind of attraction the biggest underground trampoline the world wide cold. before visitors can try it out they have to do on safety training overalls and a helmet. they're all wondering what awaits them. what the darkness yeah. the mini is going to be on the graying dark i guess yeah. luckily i'm not claustrophobic. i'm really looking forward to seeing or i don't mean the government into what we're sleeping over the cliff the level of my it's.

worth it with troops going from one level to other so insane. now there's no turning back after a short ride on an old morning train they arrived at the cavern found the underground trump early. there are 3 trampolines on different levels joined by a long tunnel side it's all contained in this cabin which is 60 meters long and 35 meters high the operating company running it specializes in unusual attractions. it's lots of different people in boulder the covering friends of the coke they came up with a concept we want we want something unique which we are fake i feel we have it so it's of the world 1st also we want we want it so fit all around all weather on this inside so i'm sure all the around it's a cool 8 degrees celsius but everyone as soon window and they can jump and bounce

to their heart's content which. looks like great fun that does bring us to the end of the show but don't forget that you can go to our website any time for more arts and culture news for myself and the team here in berlin all the best you again next time. contact. africa that's in the

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this is g w news live from berlin another european heat wave temperatures are rising and records are toppling several countries including germany and france record all time highs for a 2nd straight day and millions struggle to keep cool as a dangerous heat wave scorches the god also coming boris johnson wants the european union to renegotiate bricks. through the group agreement negotiated by my producer has been 3 times.