Peter Grimes

Synopsis

A character torn between the conventional and the visionary. A wilful, hard working fisherman wanting to earn respect but cast out after the suspicious death of his apprentice. And then a second apprentice falls to his death.

Our Review:

12 May 2009

For some, Alden’s expressionistic approach is going to be too emotionally extreme and lacking in lyricism but, for me, this is what opera in the 21st Century should be all about.

Edward Gardner, proving again what an asset he is to the company, conducts a performance that electrifies from the first note to the last. Alden brings the main tabs in during the interludes, which both shocks theatrically and forces us to listen to the music without visual distraction. Gardner provides all the colour, excitement and terror that Britten’s magnificent score demands.

Paul Steinberg’s sets and Adam Silverman’s lighting are the perfect background to a production that stretches the opera in unforeseen directions. The shadowy borough lours over the action, with stark light bouncing off mottled steel and angular walls, against a backdrop of broodingly dark clouds. The scene in Grimes’ hut, a steeply sloping platform with precipitately high ladder a...

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Latest User Review

Gareth James - 31 May 2009:

This is, in my view, the greatest opera of the 20th century and this is a production it richly deserved. The orchestra and chorus under Edward Gardner were electrifying and have never sounded better. In a terrific British cast, John Daszak was a fine Peter with particularly stunning support from Felicity Palmer’s Mrs Sedley, Matthew Best’s Swallow, Gerald Finley’s Balstrode and Amanda Roocroft’s Ellen. This is one of the best things the ENO have ever done and it’s great to see this recently troubled company on such a roll....

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