UNM Opera Theatre presents ‘Turn of the Screw’
“The Turn of the Screw” wraps its spectral mystery around Keller Hall this week.
The University of New Mexico Opera Theatre will perform Benjamin Britten’s 12-tone gothic chamber opera beginning Thursday, March 1.
“It’s really spooky; it’s a ghost story,” director Leslie Umphrey said.
“It’s about a governess who goes to a house by the name of Bly. She believes that she sees ghosts –– the valet, the former governess. The children at times appear to be OK, and they appear at times to be ghosts. The important part of this is the audience doesn’t know if she is really seeing ghosts or if she’s really delusional.”
During the prologue, a male figure tells the audience about a governess hired by a guardian, an uncle living in London with no interest in caring for the children himself. He has instructed her to follow three rules: Never write to him about the children, never ask about the history of Bly, and never abandon the children.
Based on the Henry James novel of the same name, it’s an old-fashioned ghost story that touches on contemporary issues, including possible sexual abuse. It premiered in Venice in 1954.
Thematically, the play gives a central role to a line lifted from the W.B. Yeats poem “The Second Coming”: “The ceremony of innocence is drowned.”
It’s also musically challenging. Britten divides the story into a prologue and 16 scenes connected by variations of the “Screw” theme, built around a 12-note row.
“It’s dissonant; it’s also tonal,” Umphrey said, “so it’s a mix. The music is extremely challenging for both the orchestra and the students.”
The opera features seven characters played by different combinations of undergraduate and graduate students each night.
“I don’t think the school’s ever done this show,” Umphrey said. “We really have the students that can handle it.”