Premiering in 1945, with a libretto adapted by Montagu Slater from a section of George Crabbe’s 1810 narrative poem The Borough, Peter Grimes focuses on the type of outsider figure that always fascinated Benjamin Britten. Originally set in a nineteenth century Suffolk coastal village, it focuses on the clash between Grimes, a hard working fisherman who dreams of wealth and respect, and a narrow-minded and repressive community who will never judge him kindly, irrespective of what...

Premiering in 1945, with a libretto adapted by Montagu Slater from George Crabbe’s eponymous narrative poem, Peter Grimes focuses on the type of outsider figure that always fascinated Benjamin Britten. Set in a nineteenth century Suffolk coastal village referred to simply as ‘the borough’, it focuses on the clash between Grimes, a hard working fisherman who dreams of wealth and respect, and a narrow-minded and repressive community who will never judge him kindly,...