Opera Moderne presents The Turn of the Screw.
by Paul Pelkonen
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| Promotional art for The Turn of the Screw. Image © 2012 Opera Moderne. |
On Saturday night, the Opera Moderne, a modest Manhattan company new to this publication ended its 2012 season with a taut performance of Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw at Symphony Space.
Britten's opera (the libretto is by Myfanwy Piper) is not a straightforward adaptation of Henry James' ambiguous ghost story. In Ms. Piper's version, the ghosts Peter Quint and Miss Jessel are actual supernatural forces, preying on two innocent children at the Essex country estate of Bly. (James' novella leaves the reader unsure if the Governess is seeing things or slowly going insane.)
