Already, this year has seen Glyndebourne’s first Parsifal (click here for review); now, Opera Holland Park gives us its first Wagner, full stop. There’s a flying Dutchman in town.
The staging is by Julia Burbach (who early in the 2025/6 season will direct Cenerentola at ENO). Certainly, previously at OHP, Burbach’s Onegin (2022) and L’amico Fritz (Mascagni, 2021) have impressed. Here, she makes maximal use not only of OHP’s circular layout with enclosed performers, but of the entire space, including the aisles (a sailor ‘slept’ just in front of me at one point). OHP’s arena is a tent, which is, after all, billowy by nature, and on this, the second performance of the run, occasional winds added a rather nice natural sense of sail-based realism. Burbach places a sloping construction with Senta’s bed at quite the angle; all credit to the performers for negotiating this. There was something of Tim Albery’s Holländer production, multiply revived at Covent Garden, which also uses a sloping structure (there, a metal gangplank); the effective ‘cut’ across the lines of the stage works well in both cases.
Moody lighting by Robert Price captures the opeera’s core energy perfectly, while Sussi Juhlin-Wallén, making her OHP debut, offers muted costumes that fit the lighting perfectly.
There are some tweaks to the score, so the arrival of the interval comes as something of a surprise; and tweaks, too, to the story, with the Dutchman and Senta disappearing off at the end individually, the Dutchman into the orchestra. And there is an intriguing parallel to that recent Glyndebourne Parsifal: clones seem to be ‘in’ these days, as we see multiple Sentas in raincoats (the weather is supposed to be inclement, after all). These, presumably, represent the Dutchman’s previous attempts to find redemption, as opposed to Kundry’s previous incarnations (or maybe ability to multi-locate), and so the compass swings more towards Duke Bluebeard’s Castle and its processional of previous wives who met their maker. There are also multiple hooded and masked men that seem to reference the snipers in Netflix‘s Squid Game.
Senta is present, in, or on, or around the slanting bed for he first act, tossing and turning: is this all a dream? If so, it is vividly enacted. The orchestra has plenty of heft under Selwyn, despite using a reduced orchestration by Tony Burke (Pocket Publications). The idea of separating the brass, of trumpets at one end of the orchestra (to tetheonductor’s right) and the balance at the extreme other was perhaps not too wise; the trumpets actually sounded rather isolated, too. But the drama was vivid, and Selwyn’s tempos were obviously carefully considered, the Overture appropriately stormy. The first act concentrates on Daland and, later, the Dutchman, and casting was perfect. As Daland, Robert Winslade-Anderson sang with a voice that was full and always beautiful, and his tone is even throughout his range; Paul Carey Jones’ voice, as the Dutchman, is edgier, instantly recognisable. Both are as powerful as the other, vocally; both carry great stage presence, perhaps especially Carey Jones’ glowering Dutchman. Carey Jones’ ‘Die First ist um,’ delivered from the top of the slope, was intensely dramatic (unfortunately, one did rather feel the reduced orchestration here). Joining the male parade of excellence was Neal Cooper’s Erik, even throughout his range and with arguably the best diction of all the cast
The ladies included a surprise. Before considering Senta, it is Angharad Lyddon’s Mary that deserves attention. Lyddon has impressed before on multiple occasions: as Marta (Mefistofele, Chelsea Opera Group, 2019), as Sotopenre (Akhnaten, ENO, 2019) and as Kate (Pirates of Penzance, ENO, 2017, opposite Sir John Tomlinson’s Sergeant of Police!). But here she truly had a chance to shine, and how brightly she did so: her voice was clarion clear, perfectly projected, and every inch of her being was thrown inside of her part. In contrast, Eleanor Dennis’s Senta seemed a little off-colour vocally at first, too quiet. And while I previously enjoyed her Miss Jessel last year (Turn of the Screw, ENO) and her contribution as Ofglen to Ruders’ The Handmaid’s Tale (ENO, 2024), it was difficult to emotionally engage with Senta’s plight for much of the second act. In the third, Dennis found her voice for the big moments, and only then was she able to fully captivate.
Which leaves Colin Judson as a fine, characterful Steersman, clearly an experienced seaman here (an excellent Don Curzio Figaro at both ENO and Glyndebourne previously). As to the chorus, balancing of onstage and offstage (and everything in between!) was effective, the Dutchman’s sailors appropriately spooky in their off-stage contributions and lusty of voice in their celebrations and revelries. Talking of which, the Offstage Chorus programme booklet listing included asterisked performers who are also ‘onstage ghosts,’ a rather nice indication, and who indeed pepper the later stages of the opera. The OHP Chorus has never failed to impress and this was no exception, whether sailors or seamstresses.
A couple of caveats aside, this is. powerful and enthralling evening. It might be OHP’s first Wagner, but one fervently hopes it is not the last. But where will they go next? Reduced scoring Ring cycles are all the rage, most recently at Bethal Green; but why not, instead, to those Wagner operas hardly heard? If Rienzi’s demands might be too much for the relatively small stage, perhaps Die Feen or Das Liebesverbot could be on the agenda?
Colin Clarke