February 10, 2008
A friend and I went to see The Oxford Opera Company's production of The Turn of the Screw at the North Wall Arts Centre in South Parade, Summertown. The company is shortly to perform the work at Hertford College: I recommend it to all lovers of Britten, of the uncanny, and of stunningly good operatic performances which are performed in settings so intimate that the audience feels as if it is in someone's private house.
From the first moments in which the tiny orchestra struck up, and in which the narrator, sung by the Canadian tenor Adam Tunnicliff, entered the auditorium from the back, my friend and I were gripped. For those who do not know the Henry James story, this opera is built round a Jane Eyre-like tale in which a governess travels to a distant house to take on the care of two young children. The guardian is absent. The house turns out to be haunted, and the children turn out not to be quite what they seem.
Don't miss this magical experience! What a treasure for us in Oxford to have a local opera company this good!
From the first moments in which the tiny orchestra struck up, and in which the narrator, sung by the Canadian tenor Adam Tunnicliff, entered the auditorium from the back, my friend and I were gripped. For those who do not know the Henry James story, this opera is built round a Jane Eyre-like tale in which a governess travels to a distant house to take on the care of two young children. The guardian is absent. The house turns out to be haunted, and the children turn out not to be quite what they seem.
Don't miss this magical experience! What a treasure for us in Oxford to have a local opera company this good!