Missing The Turn (of the Screw)

I thought about calling this post “Skipping the Screw” because dirty-sounding titles get more hits. Anyway, for the first time in years, I’m going to miss a Seattle Opera production. The Turn of the Screw is heading into its second weekend at Seattle Opera, and I’m not going. It’s partly due to logistics, but the truth is, I just don’t want to see it. Why would I skip out on this opera when wild horses couldn’t keep me from seeing operas as different as Tosca and Hansel and Gretel?

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Lots of operas have unpromising plots. Opera is notorious for weak stories. I usually find something to love anyway. There is so much going on in opera that a weighty story often would detract from the music, sets, and performances. Perhaps because there are so many different elements to focus on, opera more than any other art form has a way of challenging me while still remaining enjoyable. So my default is to attend whether I expect to like the opera or not.

Logistics

So even though I didn’t expect to like Turn of the Screw (more on why to follow) logistics was part of the equation. Opening weekend corresponded to the Taste of Iceland, so I was already committed to a lot of arts activities during those days. I was also obligated to cart kids around for big chunks of that weekend. When I looked at my calendar and tried to shoehorn in an opera, the Saturday matinee was my only choice. My day would have looked like this:

• Drive kid to Shoreline for ice skating lesson.
• Come home and change clothes.
• Matinee opera at Seattle Center. Eat lunch during intermission.
• Grab dinner at Seattle Center.
• Reykjavik Calling concert at KEXP.

It was just too much.

The Book

I suppose I might have tried to attend the second weekend. But I have a bit of history with this story. I read it in college for a lit class, and I think it was the first thing I ever read that I truly hated. As a writer, it’s a bit embarrassing to admit that I haven’t read Henry James. But The Turn of the Screw turned me off of him forever. People make so much out of the unreliable narrator and the ambiguity of the story. But to me, it was unambiguous. A child has been sexually abused by one caretaker, and the next caretaker kills him for it.

Now that I’m older, I can see one other reading: Peter Quint and the old governess, unbound by Victorian convention, had a perfectly natural relationship that did not involve the children, but created a carefree environment for them. After having lost both their parents and the loving couple who subsequently cared for them, the kids get a psycho, repressed new governess who kills the boy. It’s not better.

Did Quint really haunt his former charges? Who cares? It’s the least important part of the story. The sacrifice of innocents is not a powerful story element to me; it just pisses me off. And the idea of killing someone to save them is too fucked up to even talk about.

So that’s me and The Turn of the Screw. If you are able to read it as a ghost story, it’s a perfect opera to see in October. Even you can entertain the possibility of an interpretation other than psycho nanny kills child, you might like this opera just fine.

The Opera

From what I’ve read, Seattle Opera’s production presents Turn of the Screw as a straightforward ghost story, and mostly glosses the psychoses of the murderous governess. That’s a good choice.

I rarely study the actual music of an opera before I go, because recorded opera always leaves so much to be desired. But I had my doubts about Benjamin Britten. He based operas on Turn of the Screw and Billy Budd. I read Billy Budd in the same lit class as Turn of the Screw. I hardly ever hate books, even ones that challenge me. But after reading those two stories in school, I never took another lit class. Clearly, Britten does not share my taste in literature. So, when I was trying to decide whether to go to this opera, I listened to the entire thing on YouTube.

This opera is interesting for having boys the actual age of their character performing in the major role of Miles. You rarely get to see young people in solo roles in opera – even the adults are usually older than their characters.  I am really sad to have missed two of my favorite sopranos in this production: Elizabeth Caballero and Marcy Stonakas.

I thought the music was actually very pretty, even though I’m not a huge fan of opera in English. Until Peter Quinn started singing, and his tenor suddenly anchored the opera. It felt like eating cheese after a blood sugar crash. Among the governess, the cook, and the children, a tenor presents like a baritone. However pretty the music, I’m not happy without some bass. Or at least a baritone. If you are perfectly happy with an opera full of tenor and soprano (you know, like everyone else who isn’t me) you will probably love the movie.

The Experience

Henry James is right up there with David Mamet on the list of artists whose work sparks post-performance discussions. What might Britten have been implying about female hysteria by putting the whole opera in a higher register? Was the governess any less psycho if the ghosts were real?

Even when I don’t love an opera, I love discussing it afterward. Heck, I didn’t even go to this one and I’m still talking about it. If you went, I’d love to hear what you thought about it.

The Details

If you haven’t been yet, there are still a few performances left. Actually, maybe I’ll still try for a last minute rush ticket.

The Turn of the Screw 

Music by Benjamin Britten
Libretto by Myfanwy Piper
In English with English captions
Marion Oliver McCaw Hall
Performances: October 20, 24, 26, and 27, 2018

Approximate Running Time: 2 hours and 15 minutes including one intermission
Evening performances begin at 7:30 p.m., Sunday matinee at 2:00 p.m.
Premiere: Teatro la Fenice, Venice; September 14, 1954

Cast:

Governess                      Elizabeth Caballero
Peter Quint                     Ben Bliss
Mrs. Grose                      Maria Zifchak
Miss Jessel                      Marcy Stonikas
Flora                               Soraya Mafi*
Miles                               Rafi Bellamy Plaice* (Oct. 13, 17, 24, & 27)
Forrest Wu* (Oct. 14, 20, & 26)