Toronto’s Opera 5 opened a very witchy, woo-woo production of Britten’s The Turn of the Screw on June 12, a welcome return for one of Canada’s last-standing ‘indie’ opera companies. Its concept owes a lot to the spooky rural, pagan underpinnings of iconic British art films like 1973’s The Wicker Man. In this genre, there’s always a thinly-disguised layer of witchcraft and nature worship lurking beneath the surface of an otherwise upstanding Christian society.
With its remote country manor setting and the ghostly presence of deceased estate workers Peter Quint and Miss Jessel, there’s a strong case to explain the strange behaviour of orphaned siblings Miles and Flora from a purely supernatural basis. Britten’s haunting orchestrations and his setting of Myfanwy Piper’s texts are so multilayered however, that stage director Amanda Smith and dramaturg Daevyd Pepper’s concept feels limiting.
Asitha Tennekoon (Peter Quint) & Rachel Krehm (Miss Jessel) in Opera 5 The Turn of the Screw. Photo: Emily Ding Photography
A pagan take
As the Prologue makes clear, Quint and Jessel literally hide their pagan worship practice under the rug which is pulled back to reveal a chalk circle. Fallen leaves signifying nature worship are handled reverently by the ghosts and by their proteges in paganism, Miles and Flora. It’s clearly implied that while still alive, the servants indoctrinated their charges in non-Christian forms of worship resulting in much garland-wearing and frolicking on tree stumps in the present. By narrowing their interpretation to such a degree, Smith and her team leave out the possibility of more nefarious origins for the children’s rebelliousness, including the sexual abuse often implied in contemporary discourse. The result is a rather flat ghost story lacking the psychological complexity that can make this tale truly disturbing.
Krisztina Szabó (Mrs. Grose) & Elizabeth Polese (Governess) in Opera 5 The Turn of the Screw. Photo: Emily Ding Photography
Despite these misgivings, this concept is ignited by a stellar Canadian cast that fully inhabit their roles vocally and dramatically. As the Governess sent by the children’s guardian to take charge of a clearly chaotic home situation, soprano Elizabeth Polese used her gleaming tone and absolutely clear-cut diction to establish a forceful presence. All of the young woman’s conflicted emotions, doubts (are the ghosts just a figment of an overactive imagination?) and immense love for her charges are communicated by this gifted singer.
As Mrs. Grose, the estate’s housekeeper who has seen it all, mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabó represents a previous generation of Canadian talent, using her vast experience to create a memorable portrayal with an economy of physicality. Her penetrating tone offered much-welcomed sonic drama, perhaps at the expense of clarity of text.
Tenor excels in Peter Pears role
Peter Quint is one of those legendary roles created by the composer for his life partner, tenor Peter Pears. In Asitha Tennekoon we have the ideal Canadian successor to interpret the Britten ‘Pears’ roles. The tenor’s characteristic reedy tone, flexibility with melismas and pointed declamation of text created a Quint who, although not a predator in this iteration, was nevertheless disturbing. As his ghostly partner Miss Jessel, the former governess who Quint is implied to have ‘ruined’, soprano Rachel Krehm sang with full-throated amplitude, memorably slithering across the stage for one of her surprise entrances.
Thera Barclay (Flora) & Ryan McDonald (Miles) in Opera 5 The Turn of the Screw. Photo: Emily Ding Photography
There is a performance tradition of having the prepubescent Miles and Floral sung by more mature singers, as they were here by countertenor Ryan McDonald and soprano Thera Barclay. Both were reasonably convincing playing characters a good 15-20 years their junior with their gawky, playful body language. McDonald’s solid, cultured tone, while employed with character, was just too robust at times in a role often sung by a boy soprano. The fragility associated with the unbroken male voice can help to signal Miles’s victimhood, but this production’s casting choices took things in a different, if perfectly valid, direction. Barclay used her bright, pointed instrument and loose physicality to reveal Flora’s somewhat unhinged, mischievous nature.
Opera 5 is one of the few Canadian indies to use a chamber orchestra for their too infrequent productions, the positive impacts of which cannot be underestimated. Here, a very talented group of pick-up players led by Kingston Symphony Music Director Evan Mitchell were key in conveying Britten’s brilliantly disturbing orchestration.
Further Opera 5 performances
Further performances of Opera 5 The Turn of the Screw take place June 13-15 with a special June 13 performance by Opera 5’s intern artists.
