Wonderful Welsh National Opera graced the Milton Keynes Theatre once again!

There was something rather exciting about walking into the auditorium and seeing the full extent of the orchestra pit in use, I honestly can’t remember the last time I saw that. It must have been the last time I saw the Welsh National Opera, a company whose work I have always enjoyed immensely, so I went in full of anticipation, helped of course by that wonderful sound of an orchestra tuning up before the performance begins.

The opera opens with stormy, sea-faring music, Wagner immediately throwing us into roaring waves and howling winds, while on stage a woman gives birth in a scene that, for me, went on rather too long and became more exhausting than dramatic. The staging throughout was minimal and stark, with subdued lighting and silhouettes creating much of the atmosphere and achieved really well. There was also a great deal of people walking slowly around the stage, which unfortunately didn’t really capture my imagination.

The story itself is fairly simple: a cursed sea captain doomed to sail forever can only be saved through the faithful love of a woman. Senta becomes obsessed with the legend of the Flying Dutchman and believes she is destined to redeem him. Wagner wrote the opera after a genuinely horrific sea journey while fleeing debt collectors with his wife, caught in violent storms and forced to shelter in Norwegian fjords. The experience clearly left its mark on him, because the opera feels drenched in emotional turmoil, fate, longing, and desperation.

Musically, there were moments of real beauty. The orchestra sounded glorious throughout and I always find it mesmerising watching musicians interact with each other and respond to the conductor. Oddly, I also found myself feeling rather sorry for some of the players, particularly the trumpets, harp and percussionists, who spent long stretches sitting doing very little before suddenly springing back into action.

The soloists all had beautiful voices, but I have to admit I found many of the vocal lines quite hard work on the ear. For me, the chorus was where the magic really happened. Whether the men alone, the women alone, or everyone together, those sections suddenly lifted into something melodic, rich and sometimes genuinely divine, though sadly they felt too few and far between.

In truth, I found the whole opera overly dramatic and strangely elongated, a tremendous emotional fuss about not very much. It’s one of those works where I honestly wouldn’t know what to do with it if I were directing it myself. There were certainly parts I enjoyed, but it’s not an opera I’d rush back to see. 

That said, Welsh National Opera were magnificent as always, even if Wagner’s gloomy ghost ship left me stranded emotionally somewhere out at sea. Every note felt polished, every movement carefully considered, and they gave absolutely everything to a production that simply didn’t fully work for me personally. They remain a wonderful company and if you ever get the chance to see them, you really should. Their production of Blaze of Glory, which was on the following evening and which I chose not to revisit this time, was a wonderful experience.