Benjamin Britten operas are a rarity in Melbourne these days. Victorian Opera bucks the trend with The Turn of the Screw, a wonderfully tense and ambiguous gothic psychodrama.

Originally presented in 2022 by State Opera South Australia, this production directed by Stuart Maunder sees the six-strong cast – brilliantly led by Rachelle Durkin – exposed in multiple ways: musically, psychologically and literally on a set that’s simultaneously sparse and monumental.

Victorian Opera’s The Turn of the Screw. Photo © Jeff Busby

Premiering in Venice in 1954, The Turn of the Screw is an adaptation of the 1898 Henry James novella of the same name. An unnamed governess arrives at an English country house to care for two children, Flora and Miles. She has been told by their busy, absent guardian to never contact him, so housekeeper Mrs Grose is her only support.

The malevolent ghosts of former manservant Peter Quint and governess Miss Jessel haunt the children. The current governess finds herself in a grim battle for her charges’ innocence and sanity – or is she going mad, and solely responsible for their downfall?

Oliver Thadoe Naing and Rachelle Durkin in Victorian Opera’s The Turn of the Screw. Photo © Jeff Busby

Reprising her State Opera South Australia role of the governess, Durkin sings with great clarity and expression. Vocally and dramatically, the soprano gives us a woman who is alarmed, determined and protective; an isolated figure, who is nevertheless the opera’s indomitable heart.

Also returning from this production’s original run is tenor Kanen Breen as Peter Quint. His renowned physicality sees him lurking and looming with menace, but his voice is even more chilling: he wheedles, then turns nasty, notably making the repeated command to “take it, take it, take it!” a threatening hiss.

Sharon Prero’s Mrs Grose is sympathetic and measured, while fellow soprano Michaela Cadwgan exudes drama through peeling, tightly rising notes as the tormented Miss Jessel.

Yet another soprano, Genevieve Gray persuades us she’s several years younger than reality as Flora, giving a light, sweet quality to her voice and movements.

Genuinely young Oliver Thadoe Naing is Miles, a role that demands much from a child who must sing solos and duets, sometimes while channelling Quint’s mature manipulation. Thadoe Naing’s vocal power and projection is unsurprisingly limited, but he’s otherwise remarkable – including when miming piano.

Britten expert Paul Kildea conducts Orchestra Victoria, stripped back to about a dozen players who often shine individually: a lonely oboe, plaintive cello or funereal bells, for example. Balanced and precise, this chamber ensemble conveys the sparse, sometimes dissonant, sometimes hauntingly beautiful score’s tension, as the theme is tightened and released through 15 variations.

Kanen Breen, Rachelle Durkin and Oliver Thadoe Naing in Victorian Opera’s The Turn of the Screw. Photo © Jeff Busby

Roger Kirk’s set and costumes evoke the novel’s Victorian setting in brooding shades of grey. A restrained gothic triumph, the set mostly comprises sections of neoclassical architecture – the grand house’s interior walls of sculpted masonry and panelled glass, a tower-turned-church – that glide up, down and across the large stage. Two claw-like naked branches permanently evoke a sinister presence, while stage smoke turns an expanse of pale fabric into a lake.

Trudy Dalgliesh’s lighting greatly enhances Kirk’s design (and sets the mood in the theatre even before the performance begins). It’s shimmery, shadowy and perpetually chilly – except when she drenches the ghosts’ alluring satin costumes in spectral light: a sickly green for Quint, faded blue for Jessel.

Britten is back, but not for long. This intelligent, restrained production has just two performances in total, so there’s only one more chance to experience its eerie modernist-meets-Victorian-gothic delights.

The Turn of the Screw is at the Palais Theatre, Melbourne, until 1 October.