An excellent cast and eerily thought-provoking direction make this a must-see production. This first revival, following its 2019 unveiling, is without doubt another triumph for Garsington Opera. Alert to Britten’s resourceful and ever-changing instrumental palette, he turned the screw of each variation with much distinction allowing soloists their moments of glory, yet always scrupulously observing a fine balance. Making his Garsington debut was conductor Mark Wigglesworth who drew wondrous sonorities from the thirteen players of the Philharmonia.
Murray set the standard vocally early on with a burnished account of the Prologue, Britten subsequently, and tellingly, accompanying Quint’s yearnings for Miles with bright celeste tones which simultaneously appeal and repel. Helena Dix prowled around the stage as a terrifying Miss Jessel, singing with a rich, Wagnerian timbre that brings assurance and disquiet in equal measure no more tellingly in her “Ceremony of innocence” episode with the malevolent Quint – delivered with chilling clarity. Her voice shone with a maturity perfectly matching the role. Her reluctance to assume the worst of the children and ease of chemistry with Wingate (considering she was an understudy) was superbly achieved. Her “Lost in my labyrinth” was a defining moment in a powerful characterisation delivered with fulsome and grateful tone.Ĭarolyn Holt (replacing an indisposed Susan Bickley and notwithstanding being slightly on the young side for an ‘old housekeeper’), was no less convincing as Mrs Grose. The body language of the six singers provides everything we need. Verity Wingate, the ‘anxious girl out of a Hampshire vicarage’ brought a finely nuanced traversal to the Governess, dispatching with ease her nervous excitement, tender care and growing inner turmoil. With singing and acting so convincing as here, one hardly needs to have solid representations of a school room or bedroom. Perhaps just a figment of my imagination, but it suggested to me a vulnerability in the limited options a pawn is given.īut what really makes this production zing are the brilliant performances that grip from Robert Murray’s (Prologue and Quint) opening lines, “It is a curious story…”. At one point the Governess and Mrs Grose appear like a couple of pawns on a chess board.
Does she leave the stage at the end to join Miss Jessel or is her departure merely a farewell? This is one of Muller’s probing directorial additions, as too is her decision to present the Governess, Mrs Grose the housekeeper and Jessel (all sopranos) as three facets of the same person, dressed identically in black-hooped skirts. It’s a space without a boundary and neatly reflects the absence of borders between innocence and knowledge, and the margin between real or imagined ghosts in the mind of the Governess. But, a narrow water channel at the front cleverly blurs the line between where the stage begins and ends, and provides an entry point for the ghostly Miss Jessel and an exit for the Governess. Louisa Muller opts for a period setting and costumes, pretty much playing the opera straight with little in the way of extraneous furnishings – in fact, a comfortless space except for accumulating and seemingly innocent additions including a pram, toy theatre and tricycle.
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