Michael Carter reviews Peter Grimes, Opera Australia’s latest production.

Peter Coleman-Wright as Captain Balstrode and Stuart Skelton as Peter Grimes. (Image: Branco Gaica)

It is not surprising that Benjamin Britten chose an outsider as the subject of his first full-length opera, Peter Grimes. Battling with society over his own identity in the early 1900s, Britten returned to England to begin work on the opera drawn from a poem by George Crabbe.

Peter Grimes’ opening performance on Thursday October 15 was dedicated to Opera Australia’s recently passed artistic director, Richard Hickox. And it was a fitting dedication.

Set in a small seaside town, The Borough, the opera deals with Grimes’ ostracism from the small fishing community decorated with Britten’s small nautical tone poems. The four sea interludes, readily performed as orchestral pieces in their own right, were skilfully played by the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra. Conductor Mark Wigglesworth kept a steady, almost foreboding tempo throughout with Britten’s score, punctuated by brass chords and ornate woodwind runs, kept well under control.

The off-stage orchestral work was particularly impressive with the church scene of Act Two and the dance hall music of Act Three particularly effective.

Peter Grimes is a chorus-heavy spectacle and the chorus here drove it adeptly. This adeptness didn’t stop the main roles from performing strongly. Stuart Skelton’s Grimes was simple but foreboding with the aria “What harbour shelters peace” particularly rueful. Skelton conveyed Grimes’ madness with aplomb.

Susan Gritton also shone as Ellen Orford, Grimes’ on-and-off-again partner, with some effective assemble work with the two nieces (Lorina Gore and Taryn Flebig) and the town publican Auntie (Catherine Carby). The eerily silent Dr Crabbe was transifixing and Elizabeth Campbell was transformed as Mrs Sedley, the laudanum-addicted amateur sleuth.

Neil Armfield’s direction captured the small town mentality so central to the psychological downfall of Grimes and Ralph Myers’ set design, built on the canvas of the town’s small hall, was fittingly saline with the painted Turner-esque curtain warranting a mention. Tess Schofield’s costume design was fittingly replete with waders and cardigans only the British would wear and Damien Cooper’s lighting design, a standout, had the stage awash with coastal light and the sporadic lightning in the brilliant storm scene.

Peter Grimes is showing at the Sydney Opera House until October 30. Tickets $68-$256, child concessions $55. For bookings visit Opera Australia.

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