Opera Holland Park’s First Wagner: A Striking and Uneven Flying Dutchman

Opera Holland Park has launched its new season with a daring first staging of Wagner’s ‘The Flying Dutchman,’ directed by Julia Burbach and conducted by Peter Selwyn. The production treats the opera as a psychological horror story, focusing on Eleanor Dennis’s portrayal of Senta as the central figure, struggling to break free from societal constraints. Burbach effectively blurs reality and illusion, turning the theatre space into an immersive dreamscape with Naomi Dawson’s towering set design and haunting stage elements. While the staging offers powerful moments—especially through Senta’s interactions with Erik and the ghostly chorus—some choices fall short, such as the underdeveloped father-daughter dynamic and a confusing overture sequence. The ending, left deliberately ambiguous, feels anticlimactic. Musically, the performance is strong, with standout singing from Dennis and Paul Carey Jones as the Dutchman, alongside intense performances from Neal Cooper and Robert Winslade Anderson. The reduced orchestration by Tony Burke takes time to build, but the final acts deliver gripping momentum. The Opera Holland Park Chorus and the City of London Sinfonia provide compelling support. Overall, this is a bold and often impressive debut Wagner for OHP, though not without its flaws.