Page 596 - Media Coverage Book - 75th Aldeburgh Festival 2024

25 June 2024

Britten: Curlew River at Aldeburgh | Live Review

Claire Jackson
Tuesday, June 25, 2024

Britten's reimagining of the Buddhist play 'Sumidagwa' strikes a chord

Officially, the lighting designer for Deborah Warner's new production of Curlew River (Aldeburgh
Festival; 21 and 22 June) was Mike Gunning. Unofficially, it was the shifting Suffolk skies that

drenched Blythburgh Church in changing colour. Bright evening sunshine poured through the
paned windows dappling a long, thin stage that traversed the nave. As Britten's one-act 1964

opera – 'a parable for church performance' – slowly unfolded, the light winked and blinked,
disappearing into pale dusk in perfect time with the story.

'The effect – as with the rest of the piece – is transformative.'

And what a tale it is. Inspired by Noh theatre after his visit to Japan in 1956, Britten reimagined the

Buddhist play Sumidagwa (Sumida River) as a Western retelling set in the East Anglian fens. The
plot is slowly devastating: a woman is driven out of her mind by grief after the death of her son;
she embarks upon a journey with a ferryman to pray at the riverbank with some pilgrims. Their

song awakens the child's spirit, prolonging the mother's agony. There is little action nor resolution
– Britten's music lightly stitches the deep gash it makes.