There is nothing more sinister than two Victorian children singing a nursery rhyme and shouting “Chase me, chase me”. Except maybe two Victorian children singing operas with a deathly pale tenor dressed in black lurking eerily behind them.
Craig Baldwin (Agreed, John And The film for Outhouse Theatre Co) stages a cast of rising opera stars in this haunting piece in the form of Benjamin Britten‘s classical chamber opera, The rotation of the screw – the first of its kind to be presented in Sydney’s home of weird and wonderful musical stories, the Hayes Theatre. Based on the Gothic novella of the same name by Henry JamesIn Britten’s opera, six actors sing in English, accompanied by eerie strings and a celesta. Britten’s long-time librettist Myfanway Piperwrites the characters with humor and horror, an eerie counterpart to the dissonance of his compositions.
This production conveys a keen sense of the opera’s dramatic potential and offers magnificent moments of scenic design and musical mastery.
Music director and pianist Francis Greep reduces the entire chamber orchestra to a piano and a keyboard and places them next to the singers and other moving pieces on the stage. Emma VineThe set is constantly changing, with moving platforms that lock into place as they are maneuvered by children and ghosts, and various props that suggest that someone or something is lurking in the background. A model of Bly Manor (the magnificent but isolated house where the story takes place) moves around the stage, being pushed and manipulated by the actors.
An unidentifiable presence hangs in the air like a mist, hinting at something greater than the daily lives of the Manor’s residents. Is it God? Is it the follies of their own minds? Or is it something more sinister that is driving them mad? Morgan MoroneyThe lighting dances around these set pieces, the sickly yellow glow of vintage-style bulbs drawing faces in and out of the darkness as the characters struggle with the many voices enveloping them from all sides.
When Flora and Miles, the children at the centre of this ghost story, Sandy Leung And Addy Robertson wear small, stiff puppet avatars of their characters, emphasizing the malleability of the siblings’ tiny forms (a powerful symbolic choice by Baldwin). The pair’s voices mesh well together, and it’s difficult to look away from Robertson’s expressive face – especially in Miles’ more tender moments, when he wrestles with the idea that he’s a “bad” boy who can’t be redeemed.
Kanen Breen as Peter Quint – the former valet of the mansion, who is something of a villain – (played alternately by Benjamin Rasheed) is a real highlight of this production – his hands seem to take on a life of their own, his spindly fingers imitate spiders scurrying along the decaying back walls, and his limbs move in all directions as he lures the children away from their new governess – not to mention his rich and haunting voice. Catherine Bouchier as Miss Jessel – the children’s former governess who mysteriously disappeared – (played alternately by Georgina Cooper) is clad in an endlessly long wig with flowing blonde curls and moves a little like Kate Bush (who also frequently spends time in cunning, windswept moors) as she similarly lures Flora out of the classroom and into the dark depths of the mist.
Julie Lea Goodwin And Sophie Salvesani take turns playing the children’s new governess, next to Ruth Strutt or American soprano Margaret Trubiano as housekeeper, Mrs. Grose. The night we attended the show, Goodwin and Trubiano sang alongside each other, a difficult task when you’re working with just a piano and a keyboard – the latter standing in for the timpani, celesta, harp and various horns and woodwinds.
Musically, this production feels a little top-heavy, with the usual soaring harp motifs played by a ringing, sonorous piano, and round, full percussion sounds replaced by an electronic imitation. Some of the depth of these instruments is necessary to balance the singing, but it is still a treat to watch these singers fill the modest 110-seat theater with their sonorous voices. To be so close to opera singers is a rarity, and it is a great reminder that singing in this style is a great art.
Britten’s operas are always full of subtext, given his long-standing “they were roommates”-like partnership with Peter PearsBaldwin brings out the homoerotic undertones in Peter Quint’s production and does not shy away from the inherent affectation of horror (similar to another performance on the Sydney stage, Kip Williams’ Dracula). (Editor’s note: In fact, this phrase is The rotation of the screw doesn’t quite reach the same depths of depravity and terror as the recent Netflix adaptation (Located 1.7 km from Bly Manor Beach, Bly Manor provides accommodation with free WiFi and garden views.) or the piece by Tooth and Sinew with the Seymour Centre last year – which earned Jack Richardson a nomination at the opening Time Out Sydney Arts and Culture Awards.)
This production conveys a keen sense of the opera’s dramatic potential and offers magnificent moments of scenic design and musical mastery. A very exciting first opera for the Hayes Theatre, The rotation of the screw is a sign of great things to come.
It is an opportunity for opera lovers to try something new in a very intimate setting, with emerging and established opera singers, some of whom you may have seen on stage before at the Sydney Opera House. It is also an opportunity to give the musical lovers who normally frequent the Hayes a taste of something completely different. In the meantime, I will wait patiently for the day when someone decides to put on a stripped-down version of Dmitri Shostakovich’s The nose (the unlikely highlight of Opera Australia’s 2018 season).
The Turn of the Screw runs at the Hayes Theatre Co, Potts Point until 15 September 2024. For more information and tickets, click here.
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