his descendants of the last german kaiser want parts of their state back to get the background story. and we're off to a former slate mine in northern wales in our series underground europe to have a balancing good time. germany's famous by a voyage festival opens on thursday with a brand new production of the opera town hall is out the story of a failed minstrel cop between 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 context far from castle this is new production of ricardo wagner's

romantic opera takes a monkey meatier approach to life videos open up a new perspective on the action. i'm going to continue our contest takes place on 2 levels you get close to the characters for example when invisible from time to reunite you see backstory the emotions this box for time horses opponents you see what effect these performances have you don't see the consequences but also a kind of emotional as well as a very concrete backstage story. concrete expert story director to be has also incorporated the by rote festival theatre itself into his production inside the singer's fight for love and lust while outside tom has his weird artist friends occupy no fog no temple proclaiming freedom of art in the good old atticus tradition. couldn't

care it's not about 2 conflicting concepts of love and life but rather about 10 points are reflecting on the role of art should the artist aim to please the satisfied upper class by submitting to aesthetic rules or is art about something into twined with real life an artistic expression that we aim to change something in society that suspects that when partner 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 just really i have to say within just one day of being here i was totally convinced to be as proud. in craft as production tom who is the lives out is 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 a serious. part of our christian group. i'm a cloned. i come out as a clone. by sending tom wiser and venus together on a crazy road trip to be a scribe so has driven wagners tomboys into the present. very exciting indeed and here to tell us more about what's going on in bio it is 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 yeah the buy right fiscal house is like a temple for wagner love as in no of the opera house is the present so deeply anchored in the past is the theatre the focus yet focuses solely on the work of ricard log i did still run by the wagner family the festival is run by his great granddaughter naturally. so there's a deep sense of history than i can imagine that if you're 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 to perform them absolutely and even takes years to get a ticket i've heard is that still the case and it takes like 3 or 4 years to get a ticket on real evil so and this is to be as cuts as day by a board as we heard there. as a director new production of time has a tell us what's special about it. i think there's a lot of human there i was

a lot the way he's using these multimedia devices i like the way he uses this film and i like i like his insight into what's happening in the scene within the characters between the characters i also like that they take over the spill houses so 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. but i think he does it in a work in a good way to. receive remains to be seeing. that's always very exciting yeah until later right 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 sell 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 who was 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's and is an expert on wagner he made his debut in 2004 playing tom who is a. yet at the 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 given also there for the 1st time everybody environment like that likes a good contrast fees for that and that'll be interesting by what festival is on until august 28th i believe the ready to production so a feast for wagner fans thanks very much melissa 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 kaiser and 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 then these days since germany decided to go ahead with the rebuilding of the whole 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. federal state of brand both policy is to keep these places open to the public residents' rights who are bright of use would be incompatible with this . but that's not all the hohenzollerns are also demanding furniture library holdings and even old masters. in the weimar republic the horn solon's were awarded properties palaces and cultural artifacts but after the 2nd world war the russians classified the hohenzollerns as war criminals and confiscated their properties it's mostly these properties that are the subject of the raul the whole insolence did indeed play a jew role in the weimar republic vilhelm was a nazi party and a member and a big fan of adult hitler crown prince vilhelm didn't join the nazi party but called on people to vote for hitler and boasted that he had added 2000000 votes.

most historians agree that the hole in silence 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 whole insulins went on for 4 hours. i am confident we came a small step closer to the common goal of both sides to reach an agreement that satisfies both sides and is the i'm storing in the matter of the syrians and out of court settlement might now be possible 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 the slate caverns west of shrewsbury now house tour anian

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. and. the surface however. is a different kind of attraction the biggest underground trampoline world. therefore visitors can try it out they have to strong safety training overall and a helmet. their old wondering what awaits them. what darkness yeah. this may mean it's going to be even negotiating dark i guess yeah. luckily i'm not claustrophobic real looking forward to see or i don't

mean the government into. which leaves you know but. it's. worth going from one way of. seeing. now there's no turning back after a short ride on an old morning train they arrived at the cavern found the underground trumpery. there are 3 trampolines on different levels joined by a long tunnel it's all contained in this camera 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 cover friends of the company 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 of this inside

so i'm sure all the around it's a cool 8 degrees celsius but everyone as soon warmed up and they can jump and bounce to their heart's content. i look like great fun that does bring us to the end of the show but don't forget that you can go to our website anytime for more arts and culture news so from myself and the team here in berlin all the best you know what helps new again next time but i. can.

even help africa in the primate capital of the world. uganda as people of forest national talk is hidden deep in the jungle. movies ranges to ensure the survival of chimps i'm not a creature. a concept for success eco tourism. nearly . 30 minutes. many people retire in their sixty's. not so bottom 5 that's when he started his career as an arts and fashion photographer. needs a miracle his extraordinary rise from underground photographer to working for both

fashion photographer vulture fika chasing beauty and going to. 55 minutes on. hold. john you are from the but you are new and i'm not cheap thank you and i think you know committed to exposing injustice global news that matters g.w. made from lines. humans love interaction and sometimes you don't have a if you're all about what provided that's great they're going to replace people and manufacturing they're going to replace doctors and lawyers they're going to replace people in jobs you wouldn't think they can if all the work is being done by machines what humans do so they try and keep getting better and better education

and taking more and more advanced jobs where do they end up doing other things making art having social interactions with each other are we going to have enough humanity to make it possible for everyone or some people who want to say i want everything and the rest you guys have to be poor and die that allows individuals to discover their humanity they have to learn a new meaning for life and new things to do that's a social revolution that hopefully we can move too slowly. just british prime minister boris johnson has called on the european union to reopen brock's at negotiations in his 1st address to parliament he also said the irish backstop that would keep northern ireland in a customs union with the e.u. must be abolished e.u. chief john claude juncker has already told johnson that the deal cannot be changed

and this is an. spain's parliament has rejected pedro sanchez his bid to be confirmed as prime minister he lost a vote of.