Peter Grimes

There are very few operas which, at once, give some insight into the history of the current UK opera scene, the sexual politics of the 1940s and the darkness within Benjamin Britten's mind. The latest version of Peter Grimes at the ENO does all that and also provides a visceral and heart-rending story, deep in meaning, high in emotion.

The opera starts with an interrogation of the eponymous fisherman after the passing of his young apprentice at sea. Grimes claims the lad died of thirst; the local "Borough" folk suspect a much murkier end. The court settles on a verdict of "accidental death" but neither the accused nor the villagers will let the matter be. Soon after, Grimes asks his friend to find another boy for him to take to sea, a move which presages a tragic ending.

To understand the significance of this production, one must go back around seventy years. Peter Grimes was a major success when it opened soon after the Second World War. It was the first work put on by the Sadler's Wells opera company at their Rosebery Avenue home; it was also the last one they put on before moving into their present London Coliseum venue, where they later changed their name to the English National Opera. Grimes is the golden thread and the rocket boost that has led the ENO to where it is now.

The opera is also what led Britten to split from the company. His partner Peter Pears took on the leading role in Grimes on both occasions opposite the artistic director Joan Cross as Ellen Orford. While Pears was critically and publicly acclaimed, some in the company cried favouritism while others saw an agenda close to Britten's heart, calling it "a powerful allegory of homosexual oppression". Despite this, its success led to transfers across the pond (led by Leonard Bernstein) and across town at the Royal Opera House, where Pears and Cross reprised their roles.

Britten, reacting to homophobic reactions within the company to Peter Grimes, left Sadler's Wells to begin what is now known as the Aldeburgh Festival of Music and Arts. The world-famous event returned to its Suffolk home after three years away this summer for its 74th outing.

Back to the present. With longstanding ENO collaborator David Alden at the helm and ENO's Director of Music Martyn Brabbins in the pit, there was no way that this particular production was ever going to go awry.

Welsh tenor Gwynn Hughes Johns is better known for his romantic Italian operatic roles but here he is a revelation as the ill-fated fisherman beset by a community of loose tongues and hard morals. Britten’s personal connection to this work means that it will always be centred on the whomever takes the title role but Hughes adds immense gravitas to each scene pulling us into this complex character’s plight.

Opposite him, English soprano Elizabeth Llewellyn is simply sumptuous, her voice a phenomenal instrument pulling at our heartstrings even (or especially) when her Ellen Orford can’t break through Grimes’ insularity and stubbornness. Simon Bailey’s Balstrode, Clive Bayley’s Swallow and John Findon’s Bob Boles play their villainous roles to the hilt. In suit and tie, Christine Rice makes for a fine drag auntie, slightly overshadowed by her “nieces” (Cleo Lee-McGowan and Ava Dodd) who are barely heard but seen throughout.

This opera is dark and deeply emotional and made more so by Paul Steinberg’s staging and lighting from Gary James (based on Adam Silverman’s original design) that uses raked floors and ceilings and gloomy auras to produce a highly discomforting and claustrophobic effect. There’s almost an immersive element here as the perspective created by the sloping draws us into the action.

In Alden’s firm grip, Peter Grimes is as unapologetically cathartic as ever. Borne in one of the most painful periods of the twentieth century, it still has the power to expose the dark power of humanity to destroy those around us - both as individuals and collectives.

Peter Grimes continues at the London Coliseum until 11 October.

Photo credit: Tom Bowles