Welcome back to the home of the oxymoron. Evil genius. He asked the newspaper to print his obituary early so he'd enjoy it. That's like hiding at your own funeral. Yeah, it's a big, great gig. I'm Russell Kane. Join me to weigh in on whether the biggest players in history are more evil or genius. Becoming that rich, I'd say that at some level of genius. It also helps that it's a long time ago, right?

It's like the podcast version of telling your kids the ice cream van plays music

when it's out of ice cream.

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If you're anything like me, one of the joys of watching Wagner operas is the challenge he poses in the staging of his work.

Wagner is a triumph of the imagination over the every day, but he's also one of the

great exponents of stagecraft, so much so that the critic Edward Hanslich called him the world's

first director. From traditional productions emphasising the heroic nature of the stories of gods,

giants and mere mortals, to more controversial stagings like Frank Kastorff's

present ring cycle in Bayreuth, which consigns Votan and the Rhein maid maidens to a sleazy

hotel, the interpretations are endless, but all have to contend with the composer's challenges

to the art of the possible. Wagner's desire to create a gazampt Kunstwerk, a total work of art that would engage the

senses and emotions of his audiences, meant that a belief in staging and design was part

of the total package.

Where else, after all, would you get instructions as demanding as, sulfurous mists dark

into black cloud, transformed into a rocky chasm

that continues moving upwards

this giving the impression that the stage

is sinking deeper into the earth

we have swimming singers rivers bursting their banks

...