A darkly atmospheric Turn of the Screw from Bury Court Opera

By Mark Valencia, 10 March 2019

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“a deliciously creepy show full of original ideas and performed to a high musical standard”

Reviewed at The Barn at Bury Court, Farnham on 9 March 2019

Britten, The Turn of the Screw

Bury Court Opera

Paul Wingfield, Conductor

Ella Marchment, Director

Holly Pigott, Set Designer, Costume Designer

Andrew Dickinson, Peter Quint, The Prologue

Alison Rose, Governess

Emily Gray, Mrs Grose

Daisy Brown, Miss Jessel

Harry Hetherington, Miles

Jennifer Clark, Flora

CHROMA

Ben Pickersgill, Lighting Designer

Clunky lyrics hamper Noah Mosley's Aurora at Bury Court Opera

Mark Valencia, 21st February

There are brilliant visual touches in Aylin Bozok’s stylish concept for Bury Court Opera and the monochrome aesthetic is clearly realised.

**111

Erlanger's L'Aube rouge a damp squib at Wexford Festival Opera

Andrew Larkin, 29th October

Erlanger's fractured and clichéd opera isn't helped by confused direction, although soprano Andreea Soare is nothing short of magnificent as the heroine.

**111

Sisterhood tenderly explored: Little Women at Opera Holland Park

David Karlin, 22nd July

Composer-librettist Adamo does full justice to Louisa May Alcott's 19th-century bestseller, one of the most widely read works in American literature.

****1

An intravenous injection of Piazzolla: María de Buenos Aires at the Vaults

David Karlin, 13th May

Piazzolla's "tango operita" is confusing, weird but full of the unique character of his music, performed superbly by an orchestra which mixes jazz and classical feel.

***11

The curate's night out: the Tête-à-Tête Clubnight

Charlotte Valori, 23rd July

Tête-à-Tête's installation of four works is something of a curate's egg, but worth it for James Schouten's exhilarating Rock Tosca and Workshopera's visionary Boys of Paradise.

***11

Gustave Charpentier's Louise at the Buxton Festival

Andrew H. King, 16th July

Gustave Charpentier's Louise, revived and in excellent form at the Buxton Festival.

***11

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Mark Valencia

Mark has worked in arts journalism for four decades, both as a writer and as a French-English translator. Nowadays he focuses his energies on reviewing opera and music. Mark also writes for Opera magazine and for Musical America as a correspondent for Europe and the UK.