The Flying Dutchman Wagner
Archived: 2025/2026Overview
Lost souls bound by the sea
A ghostly ship roams the endless sea, vast, lonely and unrelenting. Its captain cursed to sail for eternity until redeemed by true love.
Senta, captivated by the story of the mysterious Flying Dutchman condemned to sail forever, becomes the only hope for his salvation. Her longing for escape entwines her fate with his in ways neither could foresee.
This gripping reimagining of The Flying Dutchman explores the deep ache of loneliness and the fragile hope of human connection. Inspired by the sublime beauty of the Welsh coast, the sea is the opera’s canvas, and both a compulsion and prison for its characters. Wagner's orchestrations from the thunderous overture to its haunting arias, become the heartbeat of the story, evoking the power of the ocean and leaving you adrift in its spell.
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Principal Funding from the Colwinston Charitable Trust. Supported by Dunard Fund.
Pricing
Under 16s
£10 when accompanied by a full price adult tickets (subject to availability)
Good to know
Sung in German with surtitles in English and Welsh
Synopsis
Act I
Daland, a sea-going merchant, has been driven off course by a violent storm. Finally, the danger has passed, and the crew retire to bed. Another ship appears mysteriously
and docks alongside. The ship belongs to The Flying Dutchman, an immortal sailor doomed to restlessly wander the seas, coming ashore every seven years to find a wife who can release him from his curse. The Dutchman bitterly rails against the ocean, his eternal master, and the angel who offered him a hope which he believes can never actually materialise. As day dawns, Daland discovers the strange ship alongside. He questions the Dutchman, who reveals that he is extremely wealthy and offers to pay a fortune in exchange for Daland’s hospitality on land. When Daland reveals that he has a daughter, the Dutchman asks for her as his wife. After some deliberation, Daland is glad to comply with such a wealthy son-in-law and invites the Dutchman to follow him to his home.
Act II
Back at the village, the women work under Mary’s supervision, but Senta, Daland’s daughter, refuses to join in. She is far too deep into her obsession with the Dutchman’s story which inspires her with a deep compassion. Senta sings the ballad of The FlyingDutchman to the other women. The ballad relates how the Dutchman, when he was battling against a storm to sail around a cape, swore to never give up in all eternity. The devil took him at his word, and this was his curse and that of his ship and crew. However, an angel who granted him one slender chance of redemption: each seven years he may land and seek a bride. If he can find a woman faithful to him unto death, he will be redeemed from his curse. At the end of the ballad, Senta exclaims that she could be the one to save the Dutchman from his fate – to the surprise and horror of the assembled women.
Senta’s childhood sweetheart, Erik, is at a loss how to break into Senta’s private,
obsessive world, and fears that her father will soon pass him over for a more prestigious son-in-law. Daland returns home with the mysterious stranger. Senta immediately identifies with him, and Daland soon leaves the two alone. Senta and the Dutchman marvel how each matches the other’s deepest fantasies. The Dutchman tries to warn Senta of the consequences of such a strange liaison, and of the importance of her absolute fidelity, but Senta declares herself ready for every sacrifice necessary to save him. Daland invites them to join the traditional homecoming festivities with a celebration of their wedding.
Act III
Daland’s crew are celebrating. The women want to share the festivities with the Dutchman’s crew. When they are unable to elicit any response from the strangely silent Dutchman’s crew, the woman decide it would be better to leave them alone. Daland’s crew become increasingly provocative, until the ghostly voices of the Dutchman’s crew overpower them. Erik is appalled to learn of Senta’s decision and begs her to remember her promises to him. The Dutchman, watching their interaction, assumes that he will again be betrayed, and determines to leave before Senta is too deeply implicated. She however is ready to follow him unto death, and her commitment is finally sufficient to redeem his curse.