The first time I saw this opera I was overwhelmed by the way a small scale chamber piece could create such an emotional impact. The Henry James short story providing the perfect base for a libretto on which Britten has layered a superb and atmospheric score.The revival of Jonathan Kent’s 2006 production for Glyndebourne Touring was well worth another viewing and it has lost none of its impact being well sung by a fine new cast.

The original set and lighting designs by Paul Brown and Mark Henderson were carefully reproduced and revival director Francesca Gilpin successfully embraced the heart of the opera sending a ghostly chill over the audience. The complicated use of small stage revolves and a fully articulated glass wall (both a triumph of stage management) created an ethereal ghost like quality much aided by a superb lighting plot.  We knew we were in an unstable psychological world where things going on in the mind were equally as powerful as physical hauntings. If I have one criticism of the overall design it is the fact that at times it felt a little clinical and unreal. I never quite felt that there was a real world contrasted by...