The Wanderer on the Water: Richard Laing welcomes the return of a god-like Dutchman to the London stage

Once every seven years, the cursed Dutchman sets foot on land, in search of redemption. With a regularity almost as impressive, Bryn Terfel treads the boards at the Royal Opera House as the self-same tortured soul in Tim Albery’s production of Wagner’s early masterpiece. This Dutchman’s ‘Frist’ was first ‘um’ in 2009 (the production eloquently reviewed by Tash Siddiqui in TWJ iii/2); the great singer-actor returned, perhaps a tad prematurely if we take the legendary timeline seriously, in 2015; now in 2024 he has somewhat belatedly arrived once again, his eternal quest still – of course – unfulfilled.