Peter Grimes Britten
–Overview
Tides of tragedy, a sea of struggle
Peter Grimes is a tale of isolation and prejudice. Haunted by rumours and suspicion, a fisherman finds himself grappling with inner demons as the local community turns against him. But what really happened to his apprentice? Uncover the mysteries of a coastal village, where the sea whispers secrets and everyone thinks they know your business, as tragedy unfolds against the ominous backdrop of powerful, melodic waves.
Britten’s iconic opera, rich with dramatic choruses, enthralling solos and the famous Sea Interludes, comes to life in this new production from WNO, as the forces of nature collide with the harshness of human behaviour. Dive into a turbulent sea and a storm of emotions for a performance that lingers on way after the final note.
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Leading production support from Colwinston Charitable Trust. 2024/2025 Season supported by Dunard Fund. Supported by the WNO Britten Group.
Good to know
Running time approximately three hours including two intervals
Sung in English, with English and Welsh surtitles
Under 16s
£10 when accompanied by a full price adult tickets (subject to availability)
Synopsis
Prologue
Inside the Moot Hall, the Borough
An inquest is being held into the death of a young boy apprenticed to Peter Grimes, one of the local fishermen. Many of the townspeople are present. After investigating the events of the boy’s death, the coroner (Mr Swallow) concludes it death by accident. Grimes complains that this does not really clear his reputation, for the case will dwell in people’s minds. When the others have left, Ellen Orford, the Borough schoolmistress, tells Grimes that she will work with him to restore his name, and pledges friendship.
Act One
Scene I
A street by the sea, a few days later
Grimes is finding it difficult to work his fishing boat single-handed. Ned Keene, the apothecary, tells him he has found a new apprentice. Ellen agrees to fetch the boy in Hobson the carrier’s cart, even though the Borough townspeople disapprove. Soon after she leaves, a storm breaks, made more threatening by the spring tide. Boats are secured, nets brough in and windows shuttered. Captain Balstrode, a merchant skipper, tells Grimes that he should consider leaving the Borough and encourages him to marry Ellen. Without her and with a new apprentice, Balstrode imagines the same tragedy will be repeated.
Scene II
The Boar pub on the evening of the same day.
Though it is past closing time the pub is full, and people are still coming in out of the storm. News arrives that the coast road is flooded, and a landslide has swept away part of the cliff by Grimes’s hut. Quarrels break out among the drinkers. When Ellen arrives with the boy, Grimes insists on taking him back to his hut through the storm.
Act Two
Scene I
A street by the sea, Sunday morning a few weeks later.
Ellen and the new apprentice boy sit on the beach in the sunshine while morning service is being held in the nearby parish church. Ellen discovers the boy’s clothes are torn and his neck is bruised. When Grimes appears, having spotted a shoal of fish, Ellen reproaches him for ill-treating the boy. They quarrel and Grimes slaps her. They are seen by some of the neighbours. When the church service is over, news has spread that ‘Grimes is at his exercise’. Swallow sends Hobson with his drum to summon a posse to go to Grimes’s hut. Auntie, (the pub landlady) the nieces and Ellen stay behind.
Scene II
Grimes’s cliff-top hut
Grimes and the boy reach the hut. Grimes collects his fishing gear, but the boy is weeping with fear. Grimes tries to soothe the boy but then hears the townspeople coming up the hill.
He tries to leave in haste, flings the tackle out of the door and sends the boy down the cliff face. The boy slips and falls to his death. Grimes scrambles after him. The townspeople arrive to find the hut empty and no sign of Grimes or the boy.
Act Three
Scene I
A street by the sea, a few nights later
A dance is taking place in the Moot Hall and there is a lot of coming and going between the hall and the pub. Neither Grimes nor his apprentice has been seen, and people suppose they have gone fishing. Mrs Sedley overhears Ellen telling Balstrode that the jersey she embroidered for the boy has been washed up on the beach. Seeing that Grimes’s fishing boat is back, Mrs Sedley tells Swallow what she suspects. Swallow, as Mayor of the Borough, leads his posse to arrest Grimes.
Scene II
A few hours later
The dance is over. A fog has risen from the sea. Cries from the manhunt and the sound of the fog-horn disturb the silence. Grimes creeps back to his boat. Ellen and Balstrode find him there, hungry, wet, exhausted and mentally distressed. Balstrode proposes a way out: Grimes must take his boat out to sea, scuttle it and sink with it. Too troubled to think, Grimes does what he is told. As dawn breaks, the Borough comes back to life. The coastguard reports a boat sinking far out to sea, but the townspeople dismiss the news as just a rumour. The people of the Borough go about their tasks. It is the beginning of another day.