Goosebumps at Garsington: an outstanding, shadowy Turn of the Screw

By Mark Pullinger, 02 July 2019

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“his face seeping into focus like ink bleeding into blotting paper”

Reviewed at Garsington Opera, High Wycombe on 1 July 2019

Britten, The Turn of the Screw

Garsington Opera

Richard Farnes, Conductor

Louisa Muller, Director

Christopher Oram, Set Designer

Ed Lyon, The Prologue, Peter Quint

Sophie Bevan, Governess

Kathleen Wilkinson, Mrs Grose

Katherine Broderick, Miss Jessel

Adrianna Forbes-Dorant, Flora

Leo Jemison, Miles

The Gascoigne Orchestra

Malcolm Rippeth, Lighting Designer

A radically trad Fidelio at Garsington

Peter Quantrill, 27th June

Simple solutions prove the best in Beethoven's "problem" opera as John Cox's staging is revived at Garsington.

****1

Ravishing Rodelinda: Handel al fresco at Garsington Opera

Roy Westbrook, 13th June

Ruth Knight untangles Handel's Rodelinda, directing a new staging at Garsington which features a feast of fine singing.

****1

Three card trick: compelling new Queen of Spades at Garsington

Roy Westbrook, 29th May

Jack Furness directs a terrific new Queen of Spades at Garsington – haunting and harrowing.

****1

Garsington’s L’elisir d’amore: Dr Feelgood wins the day

David Karlin, 28th May

Simon Higlett’s exquisite sets and costumes give a backdrop to Donizetti’s frothiest of rom-coms.

****1

Madcap comedy from Verdi: Un giorno di regno at Garsington

David Karlin, 29th June

Christopher Alden, Chris Hopkins and an excellent cast send us a comic roller coaster ride with Verdi’s ultra-rarely performed second opera.

*****

Garsington Opera's new A Midsummer Night's Dream

Roy Westbrook, 16th June

In the first and last acts, ladies entered with a train still attached to a bolt of cloth, which was then cut to length by an attendant. Was this production brought to the stage in a great hurry, allowing no time for costume fittings?

***11

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Mark Pullinger

Mark has been a Bachtrack editor since 2014. He is also an experienced critic, writing hundreds of reviews for the site, as well as a freelancer writing for other magazines and newspapers. He also writes programme notes and blogs on Substack. Mark has a particular passion for the operas of Verdi as well as Russian and French repertoire. Outside the concert hall and opera house, Mark enjoys cooking and travel and is probably at his happiest let loose in a French patisserie or a Viennese coffee house.