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 (2009 film) are explored. Gerard Gilbert, writing both for "The Independent" and The Arts Desk, felt that Ann's relationship to the Master was "unnecessarily sexed up", and that this element added nothing to the story, and, in fact, detracted from it. In his review of the American DVD release for the "Deseret Morning News", Chris Hicks said that he could not see why the changes had been made, and that the literalisation of the sex and violence detracted from the film. Whittaker suggested that "The Turn of the Screw" was "oddly sexually explicit", and that the changes were unnecessary for the plot.