Purcell's modern inheritance ...

Since Britten is Purcell's inheritor, I felt justified in going to see his Turn of the Screw at English National Opera on Friday. Sir Charles Mackerras wielded his baton like a ratchet as he tightened the fifteen orchestral variations towards the snapping-point climax and made my palms sweat with the creeping horrors of the opera's progress. Rebecca Evans as the Governess snagged herself convincingly on the horns of the dilemma: to know a dark truth but to be prevented from telling it. Her searing line spelt horror though she lacked the silvery resonance of Cheryl Barker's Miss Jessel who was made up for Halloween night. So was Michael Colvin's undead Peter Quint, stumbling around the stage with a hole in his head. Ann Murray's simple, cheerful Mrs Grose meanwhile tried hard to resist truth in the most painful scenes.

Charlie Manton played the boy Miles with creepy innocence. He's a drama school product rather than a chorister and while he was a convincingly sinister tease, he lacked power in duet with Nazan Fikret's pouting, spoilt Flora. The murky themes are almost too prophetic, the taboo of paedophilia hanging over the production like a Norfolk mist. The charming child who has forfeited innocence and embraced evil like a playground game is the enduring image, corruption of innocence the tragedy.

You can listen to English National Opera's production, until Friday 13 November, by clicking on this link.