Curlew River review

Deborah Warner’s production features a long central plank running the length of the nave, which leads to a platform before the altar. While her staging removes some of the vestiges of Noh – the musicians being participants in the action, the use of masks – the elements of ceremony and mystery, of austerity and simplicity, are deeply entrenched.

The cast is first-rate, with tenor Ian Bostridge – a long-time Britten specialist – as the Madwoman deranged by grief for her abducted son who, she discovers, perished after crossing the river. Wearing a soiled yellow dress and clutching a mangy duvet and broken umbrella, Bostridge projects the mother’s despair with visceral force and a vocal power that remains undiminished as he approaches the age of 60.

Baritone Duncan Rock is the weather-hardened Ferryman, his concern for immediate realities at first colliding with the Madwoman’s inner torment; and Marcus Farnsworth is a distinguished Traveller, movingly inviting the Madwoman to join in a communal prayer for her son. Willard White, looking and sounding at least a quarter-century brighter than his years, is a compelling Abbot. With the whole church resounding with the music – the instrumental parts performed by an ensemble of soloists – when the monks process out at the end to plainchant singing, the effect is of a congregation-wide transformation.