Royal Opera's The Turn of the Screw Delivers Gripping, Water-Logged Ghost Story
Are you sitting comfortably? Benjamin Britten's opera The Turn of the Screw begins with the tenor as storyteller, presenting the facts in a narrative that will soon become evasive and ghostly. In the Royal Opera's new production at the Linbury theatre in London, this opening occurs in absolute blackout, focusing attention on the words while the singer moves unseen in the darkness, creating an unsettling effect even before the lights rise.
An Imaginative and Creepy Staging
The director Natalie Abrahami and designer Michael Levine have crafted an insightful and brilliantly creepy staging that grips audiences from the start. The set suggests a traditional country house with doors, beds, and the Governess's haunted desk, while Duncan McLean's videos appear on an invisible screen, showing faces from hidden viewpoints. These visuals include the children gazing out of the window, excited for their new governess but secretly looking for someone else, and Flora dangling her doll in the lake.
Abrahami and Levine emphasize the theme of water, inspired by the WB Yeats quotation "the ceremony of innocence is drowned" from Myfanwy Piper's libretto. Water is constantly present underneath the house, emerging as the floor breaks into smaller platforms wheeled around by ghosts and their silent doppelgangers. This element adds to the Governess's desperation, as she struggles to compete with beings who seem omnipresent.
A First-Rate Cast and Performance
The production features a first-rate cast of adults and children who deliver impeccable performances. Conductor Bassem Akiki draws a richly woven performance from the 13 players in the pit and the cast, including an intense Governess from rising soprano Isabelle Peters, a warm Mrs Grose from Claire Barnett-Jones, a persuasive and volatile Peter Quint from Elgan Llŷr Thomas, and a luxuriant Miss Jessel from Kate Royal, who returns to the stage after several years.
The children are portrayed with extraordinary detail and presence by Phoenix Matthews as an old-soul Miles and 11-year-old Emilia Blossom Ostroumoff as a defiant Flora, a role often given to an adult singer. The tension only loosens its grip when Akiki and the production team paddle on stage, barefoot, to take their bows alongside the cast.
Unsettling Effects and Atmosphere
While the water element has its disadvantages, such as ghosts who splosh rather than move silently, these noises are overshadowed by the overall unsettling atmosphere. The production uses misdirection and the presence of doppelgangers to enhance the ghost story's eerie quality, making it a gripping experience for audiences.
This staging of The Turn of the Screw runs at the Linbury theatre in London until 6 April, offering a haunting and insightful take on Britten's classic opera that is not to be missed.
