Der fliegende Holländer at The National Theatre

“A ship with scarlet sails and black mast, and on the bridge a ghostly figure, the ship’s captain.” Thus is the Flying Dutchman described in Richard Wagner’s romantic, scary opera of the same name.The story is based on the legend of a captain who has been cursed to sail endlessly all the seas of the earth unless he can find a woman who will be faithful to him until death – and redeem him.Wagner came across the story of the Dutchman in a satirical novel by Heinrich Heine. But Wagner drops all hint of Heine’s irony. In his opera the unfortunate seaman is a hero with revolutionary traits, someone who defies all adversity, pits himself against all the rules and is prepared to take the consequences. Senta, the opera’s principal female role, also dreams of more than she has – of escaping her stifling, bourgeois existence. They are both uncompromising, both seeking something greater and in Wagner’s eyes it is not they who fail, but the world that does not live up to their ideals.

We are especially pleased to extend a warm welcome to Terje Stensvold, making a return appearance in one of his star roles, which he also performed in Homoki’s original production in Zürich in 2012.

This is a co-production with Milan’s Teatro alla Scala and Zürich Opera House.