Imagine that Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes was released today and that operas were rated alongside films and TV series on platforms like Rotten Tomatoes. Britten is one of the UK’s most celebrated composers, and Peter Grimes is arguably one of his greatest operas, notably changing the landscape of British opera. With themes including morality and isolation,as relevant today as they were back in 1945, when the opera was first performed, we suspect the Rotten Tomatoes score would be high amongst critics and audiences alike.
But which genre would Peter Grimes fall under? A psychological thriller, perhaps? We think so. Let’s start with the basics. A psychological thriller is a subgenre of thrillers that focuses on the psychological aspects of suspense and tension, delving into the human mind and exploring fear, paranoia, manipulation, and the complexity of human psychology. The genre challenges audiences intellectually and emotionally, featuring intricate plots and morally ambiguous characters. Think of Knife in the Water (1962), Black Swan (2010), and Stranger by the Lake (2014). Why are so many thrillers set near water? We’ll never forget Vigil, the 2021 TV series that saw Detective Chief Inspector Amy Silva (Suranne Jones) board an HMS submarine to investigate a death. Desperate to conceal the truth, the perpetrator needs to get rid of Amy, and in a dramatic turn of fate, she wakes up in a missile launcher filling with water. We still feel the claustrophobia experienced when watching it.
Peter Grimes certainly has all the ingredients of one of these epic dramas. It is a story of isolation, prejudice and small-town mob mentality, the cornerstones of any great psychological thriller, think Mare of Easttown (2021) and Broadchurch (2013-2017). Peter Grimes invites audiences to explore the depths of human emotion and societal dynamics from the outset.
Grimes himself is portrayed as an outsider, struggling to find a sense of belonging within a close-knit community. Grimes is accused of the murder of his apprentice; the coroner rules the death accidental, but that doesn’t make him innocent in the eyes of a community baying for blood.
Grimes becomes obsessed with clearing his name and gaining positive recognition from a community that has rejected him. Despite his outward bravado, he is shown to have an inner fragility. A lack of financial freedom, the toll of fishing, the absence of human connection and his obsession with gaining respect from his fellows, led to a decline in this complex character's mental health. The music throughout is paramount in bringing the rising tension to life.
There is ambiguity throughout Peter Grimes, who is really at fault? Grimes or the villagers? Is Grimes bad or is he driven to be bad? Are his actions the direct result of the villager's manhunt in a misguided search for a perceived justice? Like any good thriller, Peter Grimes leaves you on the edge of your seat to the final curtain.
