ENO Peter Grimes Review – A Harrowing Thriller

The ENO’s Peter Grimes is not going to be a cosy night at the opera. You can see that in the sparse cantilevered set – dark and gloomy. This will be harrowing viewing.

In a small gossipy fishing village on the English East Coast we find the brow-beaten Peter Grimes (Gwyn Hughes Jones) standing trial for the death of his apprentice. Grimes protests it was an unfortunate accident and Swallow (Clive Bayley), the prosecuting lawyer, forcefully disputes his account much to the delight of the baying crowd. Reluctantly acquitted, Grimes is clearly guilty in the court of public opinion.

Peter Grimes, the impoverished fisherman, is the Borough’s scapegoat. Neither likeable or dislikeable, he melds into his grimy and grey surroundings. But he has dreams. Conventional, keeping up with the Joneses dreams, of a wife, a house, a happy life and money. This will buy him status and an escape from exclusion.

Unable to work alone or pay for adult labour, he must fly in the face of Swallow’s advice by finding another apprentice to repair nets and help haul fish.

Ellen Orford (Elizabeth Llewellyn) longs to marry Grimes. He is not a catch but probably the best that a lonely widow can do. She convinces the Borough that she will nurture and safeguard any child procured for Grimes from the workhouse.

Grimes has spied a shoal of fish.  But a deadly storm is brewing. Grimes sees his chance as no other fishermen will be brave enough to net it. The boy is tired and terrified.

We can see this is not going to end well…

Elizabeth Llewellyn starts out scratchy and screechy, singing in the upper range of her register, mirroring her inner desperation. Her voice mellows into a powerful angst-ridden performance that propels us into her inner world of hopes and dreams that are constantly dashed like waves crashing on the shoreline.

Peter Grimes’s apprentice, Rudy Williams, with his animalistic hiding behaviours and mute writhing, perfectly conveys the sheer fright of being apprenticed to a potential murderer.

Set against the theme of social alienation is a Dickensian exploration into small town bigoted bloody mindedness. The hypocrisy of the village is laid bare.  The apothecary Ned Keene (Alex Otterburne) is not above supplying laudanum to the elderly Mrs Sedley (Anne-Marie Owens), a sleuthing Miss Marple who in turn, gleefully spreads unfounded gossip about Grimes in her drug fuelled haze.

Two pre-pubescent nieces (Cleo Lee-McGowan and Ava Dodd) who hopscotch dance and carry their dolls are sexual fodder for the sleazy fisherman and Methodist preacher Bob Boles (John Findon).

Their Auntie, a pub landlord (Christine Rice) prowls round the stage in her fur coat and walking stick. Rice’s forceful vocals make her the embodiment of female power in this male centric society.  She is after all the purveyor of sex and alcohol.

The chorus scenes shine bright. Mob rule at its best. The movement director, Maxine Braham, does a fine job of creating spectacle after spectacle…the crowd clench fists, clasp hands and punch the air…or dance a surreal country jig reinforcing the notion that this tightly knit community will be seeking their next victim when they have dispensed with Grimes.

Director David Alden creates a thrilling psychological spectacle. On occasions, he takes things too far. Would even the most despicable drunk sexually intimidate an elderly woman?

Please check out our other reviews and if you are new to opera you may find these tips useful for your fist visit.

It is rare to find an opera where the lighting plays such a pivotal role in evoking a menacing atmosphere. Lighting revival designer, Gary James, takes us from bleak seashore to dim workhouse, to cosy pub, to evening street party and then to Grimes’s solo dramatic soliloquy with its strong, almost incandescent, light and black shadows.

Gwyn Hughes Jones role is challenging. It calls for a socially inept man who yearns to rise to life’s challenges but is held back by lack of self belief. Hughes Jones slips into this role with apparent ease, neither singing too forcefully or too timidly. His voice convincingly conveys the twists and turns of his enigmatic situation.

Martyn Brabbins is a master of orchestral control.  He sweeps the audience up in the stormy, frothing sea, harbour bustle, misery and hopelessness. The orchestra came on stage for much-deserved applause during the curtain call. Their performance was the tour de force of the night.

We prayed hard and fervently for Grimes to reappear with his workhouse apprentice…simply a misunderstanding. Or for him to heed Ellen Orford’s plea to “Come home out of this dreadful night”.  Engulfed by his feelings of unworthiness and hopelessness, he is swayed by the devilish suggestion from Captain Balstrode (Simon Bailey) to take his boat out far from shore and sink it.

Who will be the Borough’s next victim?

Maxine Morse

Maxine trained as an opera critic on ENO Response the opera critics training scheme sponsored by the English National Opera and mentored by Critics’ Circle. She is currently taking live performance reviewing courses at the City Lit and Harvard University.

Please get in touch if you would like her to review opera for your publication.

UNITED KINGDOM, LONDON, 18th September 2023
ENO Peter Grimes at the English National Opera.
Gwen Hughes Jones as Peter Grimes in the David Alden production of Benjamin Britten’s opera Peter Grimes opening the 2023 to 2024 season of the English National Opera at the Colosseum. The opening night is on the 21st of September and then 8 performances up until the 11th of October.

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