KAMILA SIWINSKA Opera Director & Visual Artist

"The ceremony of innocence has gone down" - this ominous quote from Irish poet William Butler Yeats's famous poem The Second Coming opens the second act of Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw, part of the key to its interpretation. The libretto of the work was based on a novella by Henry James full of understatements and symbols. A new governess arrives at Bly's mansion to embrace complete orphaned siblings - Miles and Flora. But does she has a chance to protect them from the power of the ghouls inhabiting the house? What secrets are the siblings hiding? What role do the late butler Peter Quint and previous teacher Miss Jessel play in their story? The atmosphere of horror is emphasized by the brilliant use of an orchestra consisting of only thirteen instruments and the sophisticated musical form of the work. The prologue that opens the work serves as the theme, and the short scenes that follow are preceded by its successive variations. The tightening of the screw in the title is also reflected in the harmonic structure of the work. With the development of events, the viewer is immersed deeper and deeper into what is inevitable, and the autobiographical allusions hidden in Britten's work stimulate reflection on maturation, the power of desire and human nature.

Marta Dziewanowska-Pachowska