Catch up TV

Episode 17 November 2024

A spellbinding new film of Benjamin Britten's hauntingly beautiful chamber opera, Curlew River, which celebrates its 60th anniversary this year. The standout cast is led by internationally acclaimed tenor Ian Bostridge, as the Madwoman, in a performance lauded as 'heart-wrenchingly poignant', alongside the towering presence of Sir Willard White as the Abbott. \n\nSet in the ancient Fenlands of East Anglia, the parable's deeply evocative story tells of a broken woman driven to despair as she searches for her missing child along the banks of the Curlew River.\n \nIn 1956, the composer Benjamin Britten travelled to Japan where he saw a performance of the 15th-century drama Sumigadawa – or Sumida River. The story had a profound impact on Britten, who, with his librettist William Plomer, reshaped it as a Christian parable. Despite its medieval origins, the story of an outsider ostracised by a small-minded community still resonates with audiences today.\n\nThis groundbreaking film interweaves live performance with filming in the Fenlands, framing the action along the hidden paths, on the waterways and under the huge skies of Suffolk's timeless landscape.

Source: BBC 4