Last night, I attended the premiere of The Turn of the Screw at the London Coliseum, and let me tell you – this one is not for the faint-hearted, nor for families. If you’re used to the sweeping melodies and emotional clarity of Italian opera, where even kids can hum along to familiar tunes, this production will catch you off guard. The Turn of the Screw is a different beast entirely: dark, ambiguous, and emotionally unsettling. Parents, take note – this is a night for grown-ups only. You won’t find anything here to whistle on the way home, and the themes are anything but child-friendly.
An Opera that Lingers in the Shadows
While Italian operas like La Traviata or The Barber of Seville invite you into their world with lush, heart-on-sleeve music, Britten’s score offers no such comforts. His adaptation of Henry James’s ghost story demands focus and patience – it’s more about mood and tension than melody. Italian operas are like an open book, with soaring arias that instantly express love, loss, or jealousy. Britten’s The Turn of the Screw is more like a puzzle – half-hidden, fragmented, and deliberately unsettling. You won’t leave humming the tunes; instead, you’ll be haunted by the questions it leaves unanswered.
A Clever Twist on a Classic Tale
Isabella Bywater’s new staging for English National Opera pushes the ambiguity even further. The production frames the entire story as a series of memories or hallucinations from the mind of the governess, who is now a patient in an institution. This change adds new layers of uncertainty: are the ghosts real, or are they figments of a troubled mind? Italian operas thrive on emotional clarity – characters sing their hearts out, leaving nothing unsaid. Here, every moment is laced with ambiguity. Nothing is what it seems, and the truth slips further from reach with every scene.
In Britten’s version, the apparitions of Peter Quint and Miss Jessel are given physical form – they sing, interact, and seemingly manipulate the children, Miles and Flora. But Bywater’s clever staging makes you doubt everything, turning the governess’s struggle into a hazy, unreliable quest for truth.
A Visual and Emotional Challenge
The production’s visuals are integral to its haunting effect. Jon Driscoll’s black-and-white video projections ripple across the institutional walls, evoking shadowy corridors and flickering memories. Paul Anderson’s lighting adds to the eerie mood, illuminating just enough to make you feel unsettled without revealing too much. If Italian operas are about dazzling spectacle and grand emotions, this is the opposite – it’s all restraint, shadows, and the unsettling feeling of being watched.
The opera also touches on disturbing themes – like child exploitation – that feel far more immediate to a modern audience than they might have in 1954, when the opera was first performed. Italian opera rarely confronts audiences with such dark realities; even in tragedy, there’s often beauty and catharsis. Here, the discomfort is intentional, and it lingers long after the final scene.
A Cast That Keeps You Guessing
The performances reflect the production’s ambiguous tone, with each singer expertly balancing between innocence and something darker. Jerry Louth and Victoria Nekhaenko, as Miles and Flora, embody this duality – they are both sweet and unsettling, shifting between childlike playfulness and eerie knowingness. Robert Murray makes Peter Quint disturbingly seductive, while Eleanor Dennis imbues Miss Jessel with a tragic air that hints at untold sadness.
Gweneth Ann Rand’s Mrs. Grose offers a moment of warmth, though even her good intentions seem tinged with helplessness. But the evening belongs to Ailish Tynan as the governess, whose voice shifts between purity and desperation, capturing the character’s unraveling mind. Italian opera gives its heroines moments to shine – think of Violetta’s “Addio del passato” or Mimi’s farewell in La Bohème. In contrast, Tynan’s governess remains elusive, her emotions guarded and uncertain. It’s a mesmerizing, unsettling performance that keeps you guessing until the end.
A Night for Adults, Not Families
This is not the kind of opera to introduce your children to the art form. Where Italian operas invite audiences of all ages with accessible melodies and relatable emotions, The Turn of the Screw operates on a different frequency. The music is challenging, the themes disturbing, and the atmosphere heavy with psychological tension. It’s the kind of opera that will leave you pondering long after you leave the theatre, but it’s unlikely to charm young audiences – or offer much comfort to parents, either.
If you’re looking for a night out with the family, save this one for later and opt for something more welcoming, like The Barber of Seville or Carmen. But if you’re in the mood for a deeply unsettling experience that will make you question reality, The Turn of the Screw is a must-see. Just don’t expect it to be a pleasant night at the opera – it’s the kind of art that gets under your skin.
Running at the London Coliseum until 31 October 2024.
