PETER GRIMES Britten – Polish National Opera

Peter Grimes lives from fishing. Raw and recluse, he finds himself at odds with the local community who accuse him of brutality towards his young apprentices and blames him for the death of one of them. A few friends stand up for him - Ellen Orford, a widow whom he wants to marry, Balstrode a retired sea captain, and an apothecary Ned Keene - but Grimes remains a mysterious figure. What really happened to his missing apprentice, and was he involved? Aldeburgh, a small fishing village in Suffolk on the east coast of England, is where composer Benjamin Britten was born and spent most of his life. Aldeburgh was also where poet George Crabbe lived and worked, writing in 1820 a poem The Borough whose story, about a violent recluse ostracised by the Aldeburgh fishing community, captivated the young Britten. Peter Grimes premiered in Sadler’s Wells theatre London in 1945 to ecstatic reviews. Polish National Opera’s new production is staged by its artistic director Mariusz Treliński, who has done much to