Britten's spine-chilling ghost opera closes its West Edge run at the Oakland Scottish Rite Center with two performances: 3 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 10, and 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 15. Tickets $22–$182.

West Edge Opera's production of Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw has two performances left at the Oakland Scottish Rite Center: 3 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 10, and 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 15. The venue is at 1547 Lakeside Drive, on the edge of Lake Merritt. Tickets run $22 to $182 at westedgeopera.org, and both shows are single-cast, so there's no "cheaper night" — pick by your calendar.

Here's why it's worth the trip across the bay. Britten's opera, which debuted in 1954, is one of the rare ones that actually unsettles you. It's adapted from Henry James's ghost story about a governess, two children, and a dead manservant who may or may not be haunting the house; per the SFGATE listing, James famously left it to the reader to decide whether the ghosts are real. This staging, directed by West Edge general director Mark Streshinsky, has drawn strong notices, per SFGATE's Bay City News writeup. Tenor Alex Boyer sings the spectral Peter Quint, Laura Bohn is the Governess, and Erin Neff plays the housekeeper Mrs. Grose.

The room is half the appeal. West Edge converted the 1926 Scottish Rite Center into an opera house in 2022; the performances happen in a 1,400-seat fourth-floor auditorium built for Masonic ceremony, which is exactly the kind of grand, slightly eerie space this piece wants.

The insider move is parking. Skip circling the lake — West Edge sells pre-paid parking in the ALCO garage at 1220 Jackson Street ($12), four blocks off, with a free shuttle every 15 minutes or a 7–10 minute walk. Lots open two hours before curtain, so noon for the Sunday matinee. Coming without a car? Lake Merritt BART is a 10-minute walk up Oak Street, and the shuttle stops there too.

If you only do one: take the Sunday matinee, get there by 2:15, and walk the lake before curtain.