It seems entirely appropriate that Holland Park Opera’s first venture into Richard Wagner should be Der fliegende Holländer. And where better in London to experience its storm-tossed drama within an open-sided auditorium where you felt every gust of wind, even the canvas roof billowing like sails from the Dutchman’s ghostly ship.
Directed by Julia Burbach, this new production steers a canny path between Gothic fantasy and reality. Eerie presentiments of Senta or her precursors are suggested at the outset by white-clad women from the chorus, and the crew of the Dutchman’s ship are shown as faceless ghouls who periodically haunt the stage and its surrounding spaces. Naomi Dawson’s ship-cum-home is conceived as a transparent metal structure (rigging suggested by ladders and scattered furniture evoking humble living quarters), set at a vertiginous angle on which we first see Senta asleep, already dreaming of lifting the curse of the legendary figure condemned to sail the seas and who only makes landfall once in every seven years.
Burbach’s production focuses on the idea of Senta’s obsession, with the excellent Eleanor Dennis portraying a woman fixated by her compulsion to save the Dutchman. In the spinning room episode, she appears as a remote figure, preoccupied with her destiny. Yet by the final scene she and the Dutchman walk off in opposite directions. No plunge into the deep for the star-struck heroine, but a dignified stroll through the audience. Arguably, this anticlimax is a misstep and hardly matches the surging passions of the music. It’s as if Burbach is teasing us with an alternative ending which we need to figure out for ourselves. Will the Dutchman’s search for redemption continue and is Senta’s sacrifice in vain? Is she fated to be burdened with unfulfilled yearnings like the chorus of female spirits in the Overture. And, while less significant, why has the chorus been removed from the closing scene and a female chorus added to the men at the end of Act 1?
Any such directorial interference is mitigated by a terrific cast, a superb chorus and some impressive playing from the City of London Sinfonia directed by Peter Selwyn, conducting from Tony Burke’s orchestral reduction. And in the open space occupied by the orchestra (in the centre of the stage) there’s little sense of reduced sonorities from these thirty-eight players who provide plenty of energy when required and never undermine the singing.
Leading the cast as the Dutchman, is the established Wagnerian Paul Carey Jones (excelling last year as Wotan in Longborough’s Ring cycle), and here performing with no less authority or heft. His is a strong presence, and not without a sense of world-weariness or brooding resentment. As his devoted Senta, Eleanor Dennis gradually acquires more substance to her silvery tone, sounding almost disembodied at the beginning of Act 2, but developing from tender reflections to firm resolve with full-bodied tone emerging by the big duet, only Selwyn’s cautious tempo not quite serving accumulating passions.
Elsewhere, Robert Winslade Anderson’s self-interested Daland is more urbane sea captain than opportunistic father, the lack of definition mirrored in a baritone voice needing greater projection. No such reservations with Colin Judson’s ardent Steersman or Neal Cooper’s Erik, whose ringing tenor has a determined edge perfectly matching the intensity of feeling for his sweetheart Senta, his body language suggesting an abusive relationship. In support, the singers from Opera Holland Park Chorus are at their finest in Act 3’s lusty carousing, their knees-up given with great gusto. Earlier, Selwyn drew out all the emotional and physical turbulence of the overture, providing plenty of rich timbres. All in all, a highly successful and thought-provoking production.
David Truslove
Der fliegende Holländer
Romantic opera in three acts
Music and libretto by Richard Wagner
Cast and production staff:
The Dutchman – Paul Carey Jones; Senta – Eleanor Dennis; Daland – Robert Winslade Anderson; Erik – Neal Cooper; Steersman – Colin Judson; Mary – Angharad Lyddon; Norwegian maidens & ships’ crews – Chorus of Opera Holland Park
Director – Julia Burbach; Set Designs – Naomi Dawson; Costumes – Susie Juhlin-Wallén; Lighting – Robert Price; Choreographer – Robert McMillan; City of London Sinfonia; Conductor – Peter Selwyn
Opera Holland Park, 27 May 2025
Top image © Ali Wright.