Peter Grimes by the English National Opera review: Nerve-tingling drama is best of Britten

EXCEPTIONAL singing and acting in the ENO's production will convert the most ardent Benjamin Britten sceptics

Peter Grimes star Stuart Skelton 039 s singing and acting are superb Peter Grimes star Stuart Skelton's singing and acting are superb [ROBERT WORKMAN]

I have never been fond of Benjamin Britten. His use of different elements of the orchestra to create different textures is always impressive, but the music itself is always so depressingly tuneless.

Last year, however, was his centenary, so all the UK opera houses combined to give us a Britten overdose which I was surprised to find lifted my opinion of his music. The staging of Billy Budd at Glyndebourne was quite magnificent and now I again startled myself at how much I enjoyed Billy Budd at ENO.  

The plot of the opera comes from an early 19th century poem The Borough by George Crabbe. In the original, Grimes is a thoroughly dislikeable bully, tolerated by the folk in the Borough for his fishing skills but having a nasty habit of beating his young shipmen to death.

In Britten's re-telling of the tale, he is still a loner and a hard taskmaster, but is portrayed as misunderstood and a victim of his own individualism. As a gay conscientious objector during the second world war, Britten injected a lot of his own alienation into the role.  

peter grimes, eno, benjamin brittenStuart Skelton and Elza van den Heever are Peter Grimes and his only supporter Ellen Orford [ROBERT WORKMAN]

Several elements of this production, directed by David Alden, make it something quite special. First there are the performances in the two leading roles of Stuart Skelton as Grimes and Elza van den Heever as Ellen Orford, the widow and schoolmistress who is the only person in the Borough prepared to support Grimes.

The singling and acting of these two is quite exceptional, bringing real nerve-tingling drama to the story. 

Iain Paterson, as the retired naval officer Captain Balstrode, who is also willing to act as an intermediary between Grimes and the townsfolk, gives fine support to the leading roles, but it is the townsfolk themselves who appear as the real villains of the piece in Alden's intelligent production.

As the story develops, they grow ever more mechanistic in their behaviour, starting by ignoring Grimes but growing into a howling mob baying for his blood.

With Rebecca de Pont Davies in wonderfully tarty form as the landlady of the inn, and Mary Bevan and Rhian Lois as her young 'nieces', moving jerkily like dolls throughout the opera, the contrast between Grimes' individualism and the blinkered, petty concerns of the Borough is highlighted with great effect. 

Edward Gardner, who conducted the performance quite brilliantly, will be leaving ENO later this year after seven years as its Music Director. He will be greatly missed. He seems always to be conducting with total commitment, conveying his own meticulous musicality to the orchestra.

Between them, they brought out the best in Britten, especially in the purely orchestral pieces separating the acts. These have always seemed to me to contain the most impressive and enjoyable music in the opera.

I am still unconvinced about the merits of Britten as a composer, but the combination of Skelton, van den Heever, Alden and Gardner really is a five-star production of a three star opera. 

VERDICT: 4/5

Peter Grimes runs at the London Coliseum (020 7845 9300/eno.org) until January 27

Would you like to receive news notifications from Daily Express?