English National Opera — Britten’s ‘The Turn of the Screw’

With its dark, evocative score, Britten’s The Turn of the Screw is one of the most unnerving of all operas. Told in flashback from a psychiatric ward, a young governess is terrorised by unseen forces in a remote country house. The setting is Bronte-esque, but the menace is pure Hitchcock.

Directed and designed by Isabella Bywater, the production features Ailish Tynan in the role of the Governess. Central to the opera’s eerie subject, the roles of Miss Jessel and Peter Quint are sung by former ENO Harewood artist Eleanor Dennis and Robert Murray. The production is conducted by Duncan Ward – and Charlotte Corderoy on 29 and 31 Oct, who both make their ENO debut.

Libretto by Myfanwy Piper (based on the 1898 novella The Turn of the Screwby Henry James).