Composer/Librettist: Richard Wagner
Conductor: Garry Walker
Director: Annabel Arden
This is an opera production that Donald Trump would hate. It is all based around what the cast list calls “the dispossessed”, specifically those immigrants and asylum seekers who are finding Britain a less than welcoming place. Opera North was the first opera company to be designated a Theatre of Sanctuary and is responsible for all sorts of initiatives honouring diversity. This time an opera production faced up to the problem.
The Flying Dutchmanis an obvious choice. Written at a time when Wagner felt himself to be a stateless wanderer, it tells a deceptively simple tale of a sea captain, Daland, who encounters the ghostly Dutchman, cursed to sail the seven seas, making landfall every years in an attempt to be redeemed by the love of a young woman. Daland, overcome by the riches the Dutchman can offer, agrees that he can wed Daland’s daughter, Senta. Senta is already infatuated by the idea of the mysterious seafarer she sees in a picture and, discarding her lover Erik, she and the Dutchman ultimately find redemption.
The theme of the wanderer spurned by all nations is picked up by commencing each act with the memories of asylum seekers and such details as the women sorting clothes and belongings instead of sewing. All this is dramatically convincing as well as focussing attention on asylum seekers’ plight. Unfortunately this is then taken one stage further. The barrier to asylum seekers is the Home Office – why not make Daland the Home Secretary? Apart from neglecting the fact that Daland welcomes the Dutchman, this leads to the absurdity of Act One when all Daland’s staff (at their desks) are blown hither and yon in a welter of flying paper by a storm at sea. This is described in the synopsis as “Daland is navigating a storm and must steer ‘the ship of state’ to safety.”
So we are thrown back on the musical qualities of the production and Annabel Arden’s vivid direction of inter-personal scenes. And here the evening is enthralling. From the start, under Garry Walker, the orchestra’s treatment of the overture over a video of lashing waves is magnificent: bristling with repeated motifs, with the horns in dominant mood, it sets the tone for the evening. The chorus, similarly, is remarkable. Despite having to do strange robotic dances, its overall excellence is topped with the riveting opening chorus of Act 3, calling to the crew of the Dutchman’s ship.
Robert Hayward is mesmeric as the Dutchman, gaunt, agonised, recounting his troubles in a tortured bass-baritone. He suffers less from the production’s oddities than Clive Bayley as Daland. Apart from having to direct a storm at sea in a smart city suit, he is made an occasional figure of fun, chasing his secretary (a dignified Molly Barker) off for a spot of dalliance. Fortunately Bayley’s perfectly focussed bass cuts through all the business. Edgaras Montvidas makes reasonable sense of the merged parts of Erik and the Steersman and sings with resolution, through straining a little at top notes.
The illness of Layla Claire, singing Senta, was a potential disaster averted in fine style. Claire agreed to “walk through” the part and did so with such commitment that the term became a misnomer: crouching and crawling with feline (almost tigerish) grace and intensity, she was clearly a Senta far removed from the obedient girl so often presented. And Mari Wyn Williams, singing from a score at the side of the stage, gave us far more than just the notes in a performance of great emotional power.
Runs until 21st February 2025, before touring