Opera North brings the fishing community of The Borough to Leeds in Benjamin Britten’s tragic tale.
When Opera North’s General Director asked which of the company’s productions they would most like to see revived, patrons and colleagues were in no doubt that this 2006 Peter Grimes was top of their lists. Opera North has the rare distinction of being a true company organization, with a full time chorus and orchestra, and of all 20th century operas, Britten’s first major success gives ample opportunity for chorus, orchestra and soloists to unite in perfect harmony.
Phyllida Lloyd’s original production has been crisply revived by Karolina Sofulak, and the glorious choral work is once again a credit to Anthony Kraus. The denizens of the small fishing town can seldom have sounded so frightening in their condemnation of the ‘lost lone man, so harassed and undone’ (George Crabbe, The Borough), especially in ‘Who holds himself apart’ or so world-weary in ‘In ceaseless motion’. It’s sobering to reflect that the tiny cobbled cottages where these folk lived are now pink-washed weekend pads selling for around £650,000, and inhabited by children who, whilst shopping with their parents in Waitrose, inquire as to whether they are stocking up for “the cottage and the boat?”.
Not much sign of boats or cottages onstage; instead we have a kind of DIY set-up where the cast construct various settings out of pallets, chains and wood, with a diaphanous net the most prominent stage feature. That net, whether in the process of being mended or sheltering the storm-tossed townsfolk, brings to mind the process of hauling up huge catches of fish, and reminds us of Grimes’ phrase about the ‘boiling’ sea – perhaps the people, too, are ‘boiling’ under it in their rage against the outsider. Paule Constable’s original lighting, faithfully revived by Ben Jacobs, was crucial to the presentation here.
“The denizens of the small fishing town can seldom have sounded so frightening…”
So many of Britten’s protagonists are ‘strangers’ to the rest of society – one thinks of Vere, Aschenbach and, to a lesser extent, Quint, and it is this quality of isolation which any Grimes must convey. John Findon does this superbly – we first came across him when he had understudied the role of the Prince in Garsington Opera’s 2022 Rusalka, and was required to take over at very short notice. On that occasion we said that “…this is a truly heroic tenor voice, capable of rising to the rafters yet finely cultivated in the softer passages…” and that remains true, with ‘Now the Great Bear’ and ‘What harbour shelters peace’ as gripping as the tormented outbursts.
Philippa Boyle’s Ellen Orford was well characterised but her tone tended towards harshness when pushed – Britten does not make it easy to convey warmth in those lines, and she will certainly grow further into the role as the run continues. Simon Bailey was a stolid Balstrode, Hilary Summers an engagingly put-upon Auntie, and Nazan Fikret and Ava Dodd’s Nieces were credible ‘squalid sea-dames’. Their miniskirts in particular date the production to around the late 1960s or early 1970s, echoed by the ‘Richard Shops’ violet coat worn by Claire Pascoe’s permanently outraged Mrs Sedley.
Daniel Norman is so convincing as an obsequious Reverend that it’s hard to imagine him as the saloon bar Basilio in the company’s current Marriage of Figaro, and Johannes Moore neatly skates around the dual roles of Ned Keene. Stuart Jackson is a more than usually hectoring Bob Boles, and James Creswell’s oleaginous Swallow is a treasurable assumption. Blaise Malaba’s sonorous bass was heard to advantage as Hobson, and both Dean Robinson’s Dr Crabbe and young Toby Dray as the Apprentice made their mark.
Garry Walker conducted the Orchestra of Opera North in a white-hot performance which constantly overwhelmed us with its bite, passion and quality of absolute completeness. Both the raging storm, whipped up to an almost unbearable height, and the lyrical passages evocative of the sea’s gentler moods, were brilliantly played and confirmed this orchestra’s already lustrous reputation.
• Details of upcoming performances and booking information can be found here: www.operanorth.co.uk.