Peter Grimes opens tonight!

The look of the Met’s Peter Grimes set, designed by Scott Pask, is inspired by the unique buildings that line the beach of the seaside town of Hastings, England, where director John Doyle makes his home. (See the earlier post about Pask.)

Known as the Hastings Net Shops, these distinctive tall wooden huts are actually not shops, but storage buildings for the town’s fishermen to keep their nets and tackle out of the weather. Today 45 net shops survive in Hastings on the wide shingle beach called the Stade. The present-day Stade is quite different from what it looked like during the heyday of the fishing industry in the 18th and early 19th century. At that time it was an exceedingly narrow strip of beach and the normal tide came within yards of the cliffs and houses. Storms regularly washed the beach structures away. As a result, the net shops had to be tall and compact in plan. In the 1830s, after the first groins were built and the beach was slowly widened, the Borough Council set down strict regulations as to where the shops could be located on the Stade, including a rule that their size should not exceed eight feet square.

The net shops still line the Hastings waterfront today.
Photo: Old Hastings Preservation Society

Simple vertical ladders nailed to the walls inside the shops provide access to the various interior floors. The doors at each level open outward and can usually be hooked back. Some net shops have small shuttered windows and many have stable doors at ground level where even today fishermen can be seen repairing their gear. The exterior of the huts is boarded and tarred for protection. The encrusted appearance on the historic buildings is the result of numerous applications of tar, which has always made the huts extremely combustible and subject to fire. In 1846 a serious fire destroyed many of the shops, but a successful public subscription enabled most to be rebuilt.

The earliest known reference to the net shops dates from 1588, when part of the narrow beach—then known as the Stonebeach—was leased to local fishermen for a farthing a foot.

For more information about the Hastings Net Shops, the Hastings Fishermen’s Museum, or the Old Hastings Preservation Society, visit ohps.org.uk.

Peter Grimes opens tomorrow!

Ten years ago, Patricia Racette sang Ellen Orford in the Met’s old Peter Grimes. Now she returns to the role in John Doyle’s new production. Does she prefer one version to the other? “I really can’t compare them,” Racette says in her dressing room during a break from final rehearsals, “it’s like apples and oranges. This production really concentrates on psychological aspects. There are many abstract moments in John’s interpretation, which I think relate to the story very well.” Working with the director has been a very positive experience for her. “He’s been a dream!” she says. “He works mostly in theater and so automatically brings a different sort of detail to what we’re doing, which I love. The process has been very communal, which I think befits this piece very much, it’s such an ensemble piece.” Doyle’s approach focuses on the psychological tension between the characters, Racette explains. “He’s very detailed and wants to be physically real, in terms of expressing the emotion of every situation. There’s a kind of physical austerity that lends itself to the culture that we’re portraying. And he wants to be economical,” the singer adds. “When you think about trying to recreate the exact and realistic elements of the story and this time, this community, the weather, the coldness, the dampness—that’s very hard to portray on the stage without overacting.”

Patricia Racette as Ellen Orford, seen here with Anthony Dean Griffey (Peter Grimes, at left) and Logan William Erickson (John)

Photos: Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera

Another challenge in bringing the character of Ellen to life is that we know so little about her. Racette doesn’t see her as just the kind and caring person she is sometimes portrayed as. “We have to remember we’re catching the story at a certain moment in all these people’s lives,” she remarks. “And so perhaps we just don’t see some of the big mistakes Ellen might have made in her life or that she might make still. We don’t have a lot of information. We know she’s the schoolmistress, so she has a certain affinity for children and nurturing. We know she’s a widow. Was it a good marriage? Was it a bad marriage? Was he a fisherman? Was he perhaps more intelligent? We don’t know those things, but I think there is an aspect to Ellen that does not need to howl with the wolves. That uniqueness, that individuality I think is what it’s important. You have to play it very real. Just showing her as the little angel and do-gooder is not believable, because people are far more complex than that.” Still, Ellen is the only one who truly wants to help Grimes. “She doesn’t understand nor condone the way in which the community behaves towards him,” Racette continues. “What she’s trying to say is, Yes, he’s different, he’s rough around the edges, but give him a chance. I think only a person that has made some sort of mistake in their live can have that kind of compassion. If it’s done with any sort of self-righteous aspect, she becomes less likeable. That’s not her. In contemporary terms, it’s, Come on, people! Be fair! Give the guy a break! I think that’s an important aspect, and I hope that I bring that to the character.”

2 days to the Peter Grimes premiere!

Read the third and final part of an interview with Anthony Dean Griffey who talks about singing the title role in Britten’s opera.

On singing in English
It’s important to me for people to be able to understand me when I sing in my native tongue, as I do in Peter Grimes. We work so hard as American singers to sing in German, French, Italian, and other languages like Russian or Czech, to the best of our ability. And then we just take it for granted that we’re English-speaking, so therefore we’re going to sing well in English, which is not the case a big part of the time. It has been a real mission of mine to make sure that people understand the text, the lines that I’m delivering. It’s not about just making all beautiful sounds. The beauty of the sound is important, but essentially what it’s all about is communication.

On portraying tormented figures
I feel that as an artist part of my mission in being here on this earth is to give back to the people. My motto is to sing to express, not to impress. I think I’m drawn to characters like Grimes or Lenny in Of Mice and Men because I feel a strong call in society to help the ones that are in need, that don’t have a voice. I was extremely shy growing up, and so the way to communicate for me was through my singing, which is very much still a part of me as an adult. Sometimes I wish I could sing answers instead of speaking them. I am drawn to those kinds of characters that require a strong singing actor and have a strong message behind them to society. But I’m also drawn to comic roles. And then hopefully one day a director will see me as the romantic leading prince. It would be nice to sing a prince before the career is over.