The Turn of the Screw

Between phantoms and phantasm, an hallucination behind closed doors, oppressive atmospheres, where what is left unsaid has the greater weight : the fourth of Britten’s seven operas is by far the most fascinating.

Inspired from the famous story by Henry James published in 1898, The Turn of the Screw brings to the stage the memories of an anonymous governess, engaged by an unseen guardian to succeed a certain Miss Jessel, recently deceased under mysterious circumstances, in order to care for two young children, Miles and Flora. Little by little, it becomes clear that the house, located in the isolated English countryside, is haunted by Miss Jessel, as well as by a second figure no less frightening: that of the late Peter Quint, who was her lover. What do they want from the children ? Why do they seek to lure them away ? Do such ghosts exist ? Between the strange and the marvellous lies an undefinable middle ground, as narrow as it is artistically fecund – the rift created by the fantastic, which, according to Tsvetan Todorov, is "the hesitation felt by a being who knows only the laws of nature, when confronting an event that appears supernatural." With remarkable economy of means, Britten brings to climax the "troubling strangeness" of James.

Production Opéra national de Bordeaux
In partnership with 

Music Benjamin Britten
Libretto Myfanwy Piper
based on the short story by Henry James

Musical director Elizabeth Askren
Musical assistant William Sharma
Vocal conductor Benjamin Laurent
Orchestre Victor Hugo

Staging Dominique Pitoiset
Lighting Christophe Pitoiset
Costumes Nadia Fabrizio
Staging assistant Eléonore Nossent

The governess Marianne Croux
Mrs Grose Heather Shipp
Peter Quint and narrator Jonathan Boyd
Miss Jessel Cécile Perrin
Miles Henri François-Dainville*
Flora Marie Texier*

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^{* Soloists of Maîtrise des Hauts-de-Seine - Direction Gaël Darchen}