Owen Wingrave
Videographer
This feature-length opera production was filmed on location over a period of just five days. It was commissioned by Grange Park Opera as part of their ‘interim season’, a series of online performances filmed as a result of losing their live 2020 season to the COVID pandemic.
Both myself and the sound designer, Tom Marshall acted as the only two members of the technical team. As well as filming the opera I was also responsible for the editing and delivery process.
Press Coverage
Bachtrack ★★★★
“Both musicians are outstanding, and once an oddly silent game of ping-pong is over the ear adjusts to the spare sound. The eye does, too, with the black-and-white of Fintan O’Connor’s sumptuous widescreen photography starkly flecked with poppy-red at key moments.”
The Guardian ★★★★
“Grange Park Opera’s Owen Wingrave […] beautifully directed by Stephen Medcalf, superbly sung, brings Britten’s uneasy work to life in all its torment. Monochrome save for a ghostly, fluttering union jack, this filmed version captures the oppressive atmosphere of family life for the military Wingraves, who spurn the misfit Owen. A top-flight cast is led by Ross Ramgobin in the title role and Kitty Whately, heart-wrenching as Kate. Gripping, taxing, rewarding.”
The Telegraph ★★★★
“Director Stephen Medcalf has boldly changed the setting from the imperialist 1890s to the present day, with the fiasco of the Gulf wars in the hinterland . . . Medcalf and his cameraman use real Home Counties domestic locations in sober black-and-white with unassertive fluency, and the cast gives such full-blooded performances that one’s attention is held.”
“The project has been put together at great speed on a tight budget and filmed under severe covid-related restrictions. In these circumstances, it is a remarkable achievement.”
The Times ★★★★
“Wisely, Medcalf hasn’t attempted to ramp up the horror, although misty backdrops and artfully angular shots do occasionally recall those classic BBC adaptations of MR James (the black and white palette helps). Pragmatically, the setting is more or less present day, with the suggestion that young Wingrave is signing up for a pointless bloodbath in Afghanistan.”