Labelling an opera as being “for both adults and children” is tantamount to issuing an inverse trigger warning: “Some audience members may find this inoffensive. There will be no violence, no drugs, no strong language, no scenes of a sexual nature.” Where’s the fun in that?
Mark-Anthony Turnage has written half a dozen abrasive, occasionally foul-mouthed operas for grown-ups: when a recording of his first opera, Greek, appeared in 1994, the CD case carried a content advisory notice. But he also wrote Coraline, premiered in 2018, for children. Now comes The Railway Children, based on Edith Nesbit’s children’s novel.
