Mark-Anthony Turnage has composed an operatic reworking of The Railway Children that recasts the Edwardian children's tale as a Cold War thriller. Rachael Hewer's libretto expands the mother's role and reframes Bobbie's arc as an uncompromising quest for truth, transforming innocent adventure into mounting paranoia. The score draws on spy-thriller textures, with jazz-inflected harmonies and nervy rhythmic pulses that inject noirish menace. The production premieres at Glyndebourne on 30 October and will transfer to London's Southbank Centre. The adaptation emphasizes political intrigue and the brutalities of history over pastoral comfort.
When Mark-Anthony Turnage announces a new opera, ears prick up. Few living composers have such a knack for turning the familiar into the unsettling, mixing spiky rhythms with sly humour and aching lyricism. His latest project, The Railway Children, which premieres at Glyndebourne on 30 October before transferring to London's Southbank Centre, promises all that and more: a classic Edwardian children's tale re-engineered into a Cold War thriller.
"The mother's role is greatly expanded," she explains, "and Bobbie's story is a reckoning with truth. Instead of politely accepting explanations, she's demanding to know why no one will tell her the real story." In this version, innocence curdles into paranoia, and the children are forced to confront the brutalities of history. It's less "tea and buns at the station" than John le Carré with steam trains.
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