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) Andy Cooper praised the "creepy atmosphere" and tension, but said that the film "[fell] short in the chills department" and "could have done with a few jolts of terror to breathe more life into it". The divergences from the original novella's plot were generally not well received. Tim Teeman, reviewing "The Turn of the Screw" for "The Times", felt the 1920s setting did not contribute to the story, as it was not properly developed. He compared the film to Sarah Waters's novel "The Little Stranger", a ghost story set in the 1920s in which the social upheavals of the decade