The Great Wave @ Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

The Great Wave, a co-production by Scottish Opera and Japanese company KAJIMOTO, sets out to dramatise the life and legacy of Katsushika Hokusai – an artist whose iconic print has long transcended the gallery to become a global visual shorthand. This new opera, created by Dai Fujikura and Harry Ross and directed by Satoshi Miyagi, is as visually arresting as its subject suggests.

For a story rooted in "dots and lines", light and shadow, the production’s scenography sings in its own register. Junpei Kiz’s bamboo-framed set, animated by Sho Yamaguchi’s projections of Hokusai’s works, creates a shimmering visual experience. The opera unfolds in vignettes charting Hokusai’s artistic evolution and his relationship with his daughter Ōi. While this non-linear structure makes sense in translating Hokusai's life into an ekphrastic opera, the approach never quite achieves the emotional crescendo one might expect. We hear the oft-repeated refrain of the artist’s desire for “ten more years” to become "a true artist", yet the libretto rarely delves into the psychological depths behind this obsession. The result is a distant portrait, lacking the dramatic through line that might bind its episodes into a compelling arc.

Vocally, baritone Daisuke Ohyama delivers a poised, resonant Hokusai, matched sensitively by Julieth Lozano Rolong as Ōi. Supported by the disciplined forces of the orchestra of Scottish Opera under Stuart Stratford, and the distinctive timbre of the shakuhachi flute, Fujikura and Ross' score provides textural richness even when the drama stalls.

Despite moments of spectacle and flashes of wit from the ensemble, The Great Wave never quite offers the deeper understanding of Hokusai its premise invites. There is craft and visual splendour aplenty, but the opera’s heart – the man behind the masterpiece – remains frustratingly elusive.

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The Great Wave, Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, until 21 Feb