Composer: Benjamin Britten
Stage Director: Chuck Hudson Conductor: Timm Rolek
Sacramento Opera 2008
Emily Pulley. Thomas Glenn, & Brooks Fisher
Daring 'Turn of the Screw' thrills with a fine cast: In the Sacramento Opera's deeply engaging and highly provocative production of Benjamin Britten's "The Turn of the Screw," sexual awakening is the dramatic fuse that sets the drama on fire...Chuck Hudson's crisp and erotically veiled direction is filled with just the right fervor of caged sexuality. In this production, the housekeeper has unrealized sexual desires of her own that are directed toward the governess. All this seething ethereal erotica makes you wonder what's in the drinking water in this country estate. --Edward Ortiz , Sacramento Bee
The Act Two Dream Maria Jette & Emily Pulley
Imagine Benjamin Britten's "The Turn of the Screw" in a spirited, flawless performance, a splendidly cast, convincingly directed, spectacularly sung and played production...(Quint's) ghostly evil character (in Chuck Hudson's self-effacing and clearly communicating direction) received equally deserved bravos and hisses. Director and singer are both special in their ability and willingness to disappear in their work. There is no Regietheater or star in Sacramento, "only" good direction and great performance. --Janos Gereben, San Francisco Classical Voice
Sac Opera’s production (of Turn of the Screw) was elegantly staged and shrewdly interpreted by director Chuck Hudson, whose program note rightly observes the Hitchcockian overtones of the material–which “seduces as well as repulses the audience by what is left unsaid.” Highly skilled, increasingly kinky, unabashedly creepy. --Jonathan Kiefer, Sacramento News and Reviews
LEFT: Emily Pulley (as the Governess), Stage Director Chuck Hudson (standing in for Quint)
and 14-year-old Brooks Fisher (as Miles) rehearse for the
Sacramento Opera's production of "The Turn of the Screw".
Photos by Eleakis www.eleakis.com