The Turn of the Screw - ENO, 1 December 2007
At last something decent from ENO. They score on all fronts with this coherent, gripping and musically potent interpretation of Britten's opera. The unsettling drama is played out in a spare, monochromatic, Victorian setting which immediately roots it in the time of Henry James's original tale. The grubby glass panels creaking across the stage and dead leaves fluttering underfoot suggest neglect and decay. Intimacy and an unknown beyond are simultaneously evoked by bathing the corners of the huge Coliseum stage in darkest shadow.
Britten was repeatedly attracted to ambiguity, to texts which lack a clear resolution. Director David McVicar preserves this aspect to some extent. He doesn't do absolutely all the audience's thinking -- crucially, he never clarifies whether the whole drama is taking place in the Governess's head, though heavy hints are dropped. But he decides for us if and when the ghostly Quint and Jessel are visible to the other characters, and why -- at one point contradicting both text and music when he seats Miss Jessel at the Governess's desk while Britten has her slowly approaching it. And McVicar is much more blatantly assured than Britten could ever have dared to be about the possible paedophilic element underlying the work -- he even has the child Miles plant a suggestive kiss on the Governess's lips as he sings "I am bad aren't I" at the end of the first act.
The corruption of the children is boldly underlined by the clever use of one of those grotesquely human Victorian wax dolls -- a toy disturbingly abused by the children as they first dress it in a pig mask, then bury it furiously beneath the leaves. And the restless inching-around of the same furniture from scene to scene in same basic set neatly underscores Britten's musical structure of theme and variations.
Musically, everything worked well, starting with Garry Walker's sensitive and detailed orchestral contribution. Rebecca Evans was a fluttery and neurotic Governess, exquisitely lyrical, confounded by the alarmingly adult Miles of fourteen year old Jacob Moriarty. Both Jacob and Nazan Fikret (Flora) were shockingly good, easily a match for the rest of the cast in vocal and dramatic ability. And casting these parts with slightly older children than normal allows them to display a knowingness entirely in keeping with McVicar's ideas.
Timothy Robinson played Quint with subdued but ever present menace. His singing was resolute, powerful, and in places surprisingly Pears-like. The sensual harshness of Cheryl Barker's Miss Jessel made her more accomplice than victim, and her voice took on a firm, almost strident edge. Ann Murray brought together vocal steel and feather lightness in her chilly and assured Mrs Grose.
ENO may struggle in some areas, but like their last couple of Britten productions, Death in Venice and Billy Budd, this could be counted pretty much a total success. And it's not audience poison either - I would guess the Coliseum was at least 90% full on my visit. Something for the schedulers to think about?
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