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) Dowling, a columnist for "The Guardian", the film failed in this regard. The novella, Dowling explained, can be understood as a straightforward ghost story, but it can also be understood as a story about Ann's madness, and there is further ambiguity concerning whether the children are being controlled by Quint and Jessel, or whether the children are controlling Ann. He suggested that "there's probably a subtlety to all this ambiguity on the page which, when translated to the screen, just looks like having it both ways." As a result, "the narrative was at times more evasive than ambiguous". Whittaker felt