Peter Grimes

STORY

Prologue
A coroner’s inquest. Lawyer Swallow is conducting the inquest into the death of Grimes’s apprentice. A verdict of ‘accidental circumstances’ is returned, and Grimes is advised not to get another apprentice. The court is cleared and Ellen Orford, the widowed school-mistress, who sympathises with Grimes, remains behind to comfort him.

Act I
Early morning at the harbour. The fisherfolk go about their daily business. The general activity of the village is interrupted by Grimes asking for help to haul in his boat. ‘Do it yourself’, shouts the preacher Boles, and the fishermen refuse to help. Balstrode and Keene, however, lend a hand. Keene tells Grimes that he has found a new apprentice for him. In spite of the borough’s hostility, Ellen offers to help and fetch him from the orphanage. Hobson reluctantly agrees.

Mrs Sedley is in need of some laudanum, the apothecary Keene suggests that she meets him later that evening in the pub. A storm is approaching. Grimes and Balstrode are left alone. The latter tries to persuade Grimes to leave The Borough and seek his fortune elsewhere. Grimes refuses saying that his roots are here and that his ambition is to gain respect and marry Ellen.

The same evening. The storm rages outside and the pub fills with villagers. An unexpected visitor is Mrs Sedley, who has come to keep her assignation with Keene. The two nieces of ‘Auntie’ (the owner of the pub) enter shouting hysterically that their windows have blown in. Boles, who is now drunk, makes a pass at one of the nieces. Grimes enters. Boles tries to strike him, but Balstrode manages to ease the atmosphere by starting to sing a round. At the climax of the song, the door opens and Ellen, Hobson and the new apprentice enter, soaked to the skin. Grimes leaves with the boy.

Act II
While the villagers go to church, Ellen and the apprentice remain on the beach. Ellen tries to cheer up the boy but notices a tear in his coat and a bruise on his neck. She realises that Grimes, in spite of her warnings, has been maltreating him. Grimes arrives in search of the boy.

Ellen, hoping to protect him, reminds Grimes that it is a Sunday, a day of rest. Grimes retaliates by striking her. The scene is witnessed by Auntie, Keene and Boles. The congregation comes out of the church and public sentiment is quickly inflamed. Swallow asks Hobson to lead the men to Grimes’s hut.

Grimes’ hut. Peter Grimes is preparing to go fishing. He blames the boy for telling tales to Ellen. The sound of the mob approaching is heard. Grimes opens a trapdoor in the floor leading to the boat. He starts to lower down the boy, but when there is a knock on the door the boy falls. Grimes follows him. Swallow, the Rector, Keene and Balstrode enter, the hut is empty. Balstrode stays behind and realises that something is wrong. He descends the way Grimes and the boy have gone.

Act III
Three days later. It is night and people are dancing. There is a steady flow of people between the dance and the pub. Mrs Sedley tries to convince Keene that Grimes has murdered his new apprentice, for neither Grimes nor the boy have been seen for two days. Later, she overhears a conversation between Ellen and Balstrode. Ellen has found the boy’s jersey she knitted, and they realise that something is seriously wrong. They decide to look for Peter to help him. Mrs Sedley now has all the evidence she needs. She calls for Swallow and tells him what she has overheard and seen. An atmosphere of hysteria develops and everybody is called to arms to hunt for Grimes.

Out of a dense fog, Peter enters, worn out and delirious. Concerned, Ellen and Balstrode approach him cautiously but Peter does not react. Balstrode quietly but firmly tells him to go out in his boat and sink it.

Dawn breaks as The Borough slowly comes to life. Swallow reports a boat sinking far out at sea, no one reacts. Yet another day begins.