The Turn of the Screw (opera) The Turn of the Screw (opera) The Turn of the Screw is a 20th-century English chamber opera composed by Benjamin Britten with a libretto by Myfanwy Piper, "wife of the artist John Piper, who had been a friend of the composer since 1935 and had provided designs for several of the operas". The libretto is based on the novella "The Turn of the Screw" by Henry James. The opera was commissioned by the Venice Biennale and given its world premiere on 14 September 1954, at the Teatro La Fenice, Venice. The original recording was made during that year, with the
The Turn of the Screw Mexican miniseries entitled "Otra vuelta de tuerca" ("The Turn of the Screw", 1981); a 1982 adaptation directed by Petr Weigl primarily starring Czech actors lip-synching; a 1990 adaptation directed by Graeme Clifford; "The Haunting of Helen Walker" (1995), directed by Tom McLoughlin; a 1999 adaptation directed by Ben Bolt; a low-budget 2003 version written and directed by Nick Millard; the Italian-language "Il mistero del lago" ("The Mystery of the Lake", 2009); and a 2009 BBC film adapted by Sandy Welch, starring Michelle Dockery and Sue Johnston. Literary reworkings of "The Turn of the Screw" identified by James scholar Adeline R.