First, despite the lengthy run time and somewhat dreamlike music, it kept me awake after jet lag and an overnight bus to get from Glasgow to Glyndebourne to catch the only performance I could. Second, the singing and LPO’s work in the pit left nothing to be desired. And thirdly, Jetske Mijnssen‘s directorial vision – well, it’s not very faithful to Wagner’s story or themes, and no worse off for it. Indeed, it waters down this mythic quest for redemption through Christ (the Grail) to a family dispute gone wrong and decades of festering guilt/resentment/wounds. It was pure Thomas Mann-core, a festering Victorian sanitarium of repression and good manners hiding truly broken souls. But it made me think about this opera in an entirely new, human way, away from the myth and ceremony.