Royal Opera House, Covent Garden - 1992 and 2000

Cast: James Morris, Julia Varady, Gwynne Howell / Bernd Weikl, Solveig Kringelborn, Kurt Moll, Kim Begley.

"Ian Judge’s new production of THE FLYING DUTCHMAN for the Royal Opera is a brilliant display of stagecraft, and with his own adroit stage movement makes for a series of breathtaking dramatic coups." – The Observer

"This is the best and best-looking new production Covent Garden has mounted in years." – The Sunday Express

"The production looks at once complex and simple, spectacular and practical. Big effects are swiftly and surely worked up. The drama whizzes along. Mr Judge always comes up with a terrific show, and does so once more in his first Covent Garden venture." – The Financial Times

"The boat transforms into the spinning room, the spinning room into the harbour; and the ingenuity of this theatre magic counts among the most exciting technical achievements I have ever seen in opera. This DUTCHMAN makes a stunning show. I said as much after the first night to the critic of Another Newspaper, who snapped back: “Show being the word.” And why not?" – The Independent on Sunday

"Judge, who, with John Gunter’s ingenious, quasi realistic sets – triumphantly changed in full view by a stage management team on top form – puts on a show, in the West End or Broadway sense, unequalled in my experience of Dutchman-watching. We have become unaccustomed to such technical displays of theatrical wizardry at Covent Garden. Judge has staged it at face value, and I enjoyed it hugely, even a bit guiltily." – The Sunday Times

"Gunter, Judge, and their platform are devilishly clever in a startling transition to the quayside partying of Act 111 – an exuberant explosion of music and light, garish orange streaming through the open windows and doors of sailors’ cottages. Now that really gave me a rush." – The Independent