The Dutchman is, for once, good-looking enough to explain Senta's obsession with him, and sung nicely by a slightly wooden-acting James Creswell.

WSJ: Review: Saving a Sinking Ship | 'Flying Dutchman' at the English National Opera

Meanwhile, Jonathan Kent's sometimes imaginative, sometimes annoying new production for the English National Opera is set nowhere in particular: the whole of Act I takes place in the she's-read-too-many-storybooks mind of Senta as a young girl.

WSJ: Review: Saving a Sinking Ship | 'Flying Dutchman' at the English National Opera

This means that the entire drama has to be carried on the ample shoulders of the grown-up Senta, Orla Boylan, whose display of passion is so convincing that her odd wobble of pitch only adds to our conviction that she's determined to stand by and save her man.

WSJ: Review: Saving a Sinking Ship | 'Flying Dutchman' at the English National Opera