Film: PETER GRIMES on Aldeburgh Beach

Thursday 19 September - Screenings Update

We're very glad to be able to announce additional screenings of Peter Grimes on Aldeburgh Beach at the following cinemas. Any further screenings will also be announced here:

24 September Stag Theatre Sevenoaks
25 September Hollywood Cinema Fakenham
28 September Lewes Cinema
3 October Number 6 Portsmouth
6 October Phoenix Arts Leicester
6 October Watford Palace Theatre
24 November Marina Theatre Lowestoft

In cinemas from Thursday 5 September 2013

“one of the most exhilarating opera events I have experienced”  
Sunday Express

“a remarkable and surely unrepeatable achievement”
The Guardian

“an open-air production that fought the elements and won”
The Times

From Thursday 5 September “the most talked about event of the summer” - Peter Grimes on Aldeburgh Beach - will be showing in over 70 UK cinemas.

Filmed in June during three extraordinary performances that took place during the Aldeburgh Festival, Peter Grimes on Aldeburgh Beach, takes place in the heart of the town that inspired it and is the film interpretation of Britten’s Peter Grimes, the most successful opera of post-war Britain. 

Based on George Crabbe’s 1810 poem ‘The Borough’, Britten’s powerful and masterful evocation of the North Sea in all its moods has become inextricably linked with the Aldeburgh that was home to Crabbe in the late eighteenth century and Britten in the twentieth, and where both poem and opera were written. 

Conceived and hosted by the Aldeburgh Festival, the performances of Peter Grimes were directed by Tim Albery who placed the audience on the beach watching the story of Peter Grimes unfold as dusk fades over the sea.  As cast and audience are engulfed by darkness and the thunder of the sea, the connection between the world of Peter Grimes and the local community that branded him a murderer and hunted him down, is tangible.

The cast and chorus, with Alan Oke in the eponymous role of Peter Grimes, Giselle Allan as Ellen Orford, and David Kempster as Captain Balstrode, sing live with amplification, while the Britten-Pears Orchestra under the baton of Britten expert Steuart Bedford is pre-recorded. 

Peter Grimes on Aldeburgh Beach is directed for cinema by Margaret Williams, whose recent credits include George Benjamin’s and Martin Crimp’s Written on Skin for Royal Opera House/BBC4 and The Royal Ballet Dances Frederick Ashton.  Her film of Britten’s Owen Wingrave (2001) for Channel 4 was hailed by the Telegraph as “probably the best film version of an opera yet made”.

Produced by Anne Beresford and Debbie Gray, Peter Grimes on Aldeburgh Beach is made possible by Aldeburgh Music, supported by Arts Council England's Britten Centenary Commission Fund, and the Low Carbon Innovation Fund.  This is LCIF’s first investment within the creative industries sector.  Executive Producers are Aldeburgh Music and Genesius Productions.  The film will be distributed by Picturehouse Entertainment, one of the UK’s leading homes for alternative content.

“When Peter Grimes was premiered in 1945, it was credited with re-inventing a genre, with bringing new audiences and a new voice to a tired medium.  Soon to be released in cinemas, Peter Grimes on Aldeburgh Beach may yet do the same, proving that just occasionally ‘stepping outside the box’ of theatre can be more than a cliché.”
New Statesman

CAST AND PRODUCTION

Alan Oke    Peter Grimes
Giselle Allen    Ellen Orford 
David Kempster   Captain Balstrode
Gaynor Keeble    Auntie  
Alexandra Hutton   First Niece
Charmian Bedford   Second Niece 
Robert Murray    Bob Boles 
Henry Waddington   Swallow
Catherine Wyn-Rogers  Mrs Sedley  
Charles Rice    Ned Keene 
Christopher Gillett   Rev Horace Adams
Stephen Richardson   Hobson  
Steuart Bedford    Conductor

Britten-Pears Orchestra
The Chorus of Opera North
Chorus of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama

Directed for the screen by Margaret Williams
Live production directed by Tim Albery
Set and Costume Design  Leslie Travers
Lighting Design   Lucy Carter
Film produced by   Anne Beresford and Debbie Gray

PETER GRIMES ON ALDEBURGH BEACH
From Thursday 5 September 2013

View map fullscreen

Please check local listings for detailed information

LONDON CINEMAS
London  Barbican   www.barbican.org.uk
London  Curzon Chelsea   http://www.curzoncinemas.com  
London  Cineworld Fulham Road  www.cineworld.co.uk
London  Cineworld Haymarket  www.cineworld.co.uk
London  Clapham Picturehouse  www.picturehouses.co.uk
London  Greenwich Picturehouse www.picturehouses.co.uk
London  Hackney Picturehouse  www.picturehouses.co.uk
London  Phoenix East Finchley  www.phoenixcinema.co.uk
London  Renoir    www.curzoncinemas.com
London  Curzon Richmond  www.curzoncinemas.com
London  Ritzy Cinema, Brixton  www.picturehouses.co.uk
London  The Gate, Notting Hill www.picturehouses.co.uk
London  HMV Curzon Wimbledon  www.hmvcurzon.com
London  Watford Palace Theatre   www.watfordpalacetheatre.co.uk

EAST OF ENGLAND CINEMAS
Aldeburgh Aldeburgh Cinema  www.aldeburghcinema.co.uk
Braintree Cineworld Braintree  www.cineworld.co.uk
Bury St Edmunds Abbeygate Picturehouse www.picturehouses.co.uk
Cambridge Arts Picturehouse Cambridge www.picturehouses.co.uk
Cromer  Regal Cromer   www.merlincinemas.co.uk
Haverhill Haverhill Arts Centre      www.haverhillartscentre.co.uk
Huntingdon Cineworld Huntingdon  www.cineworld.co.uk
Ipswich  Ipswich Film Theatre  www.iftt.co.uk
Lowestoft The Marina Theatre  www.marinatheatre.co.uk
Norwich   Cinema City Norwich  www.picturehouses.co.uk
Peterborough Showcase Peterbourough www.showcasecinemas.co.uk
Saffron Walden Saffron Screen   www.saffronscreen.com
Stevenage Cineworld Stevenage  www.cineworld.co.uk

SOUTH WEST CINEMAS
Bath  The Little Theatre Cinema www.picturehouses.co.uk
Cornwall Phoenix Cinema   www.merlincinemas.co.uk
Devon  New Carlton Cinema  www.merlincinemas.co.uk
Exeter  Exeter Picturehouse  www.picturehouses.co.uk
Redruth  Regal Redruth   www.merlincinemas.co.uk
Yeovil  Cineworld Yeovil  www.cineworld.co.uk

SOUTH OF ENGLAND CINEMAS
Ashford  Cineworld Ashford  www.cineworld.co.uk
Brighton Duke of York's Brighton www.picturehouses.co.uk
Cheltenham Cineworld Cheltenham  www.cineworld.co.uk
Chichester Cineworld Chichester  www.cineworld.co.uk
Didcot  Cineworld Didcot  www.cineworld.co.uk
Dorking  Dorking Halls   www.dorkinghalls.co.uk
Eastbourne Cineworld Eastbourne  www.cineworld.co.uk
Henley/Thames The Regal, Henley  www.picturehouses.co.uk
High Wycombe Cineworld High Wycombe www.cineworld.co.uk
Isle of Wight Cineworld Isle of Wight www.cineworld.co.uk
Milton Keynes Cineworld Milton Keynes www.cineworld.co.uk
Oxford  Phoenix Picturehouse  www.picturehouses.co.uk
Southampton Harbour Lights Picturehouse www.picturehouses.co.uk
Witney  Cineworld Witney  www.cineworld.co.uk
Woking  Ambassadors Cinema  www.atgtickets.com

EAST AND WEST MIDLANDS CINEMAS
Birmingham Cineworld Birmingham  www.cineworld.co.uk
Coleford Studio Coleford  www.merlincinemas.co.uk
Great Malvern Forum Theatre, Malvern www.malvern-theatres.co.uk
Hay-on-Wye Richard Booth’s Cinema www.boothbooks.co.uk
Northampton Errol Flynn Filmhouse        www.errolflynnfilmhouse.com
Shrewsbury Old Market Hall  www.oldmarkethall.co.uk
Solihull Cineworld Solihull  www.cineworld.co.uk
Stafford Curzon Stafford  www.curzoncinemas.com
Stratford/Avon Picturehouse   www.picturehouses.co.uk
Tenbury Wells Regal Tenbury   www.regaltenbury.co.uk

NORTH EAST AND NORTH WEST CINEMAS
Chesterfield Cineworld Chesterfield www.cineworld.co.uk
Didsbury Cineworld Didsbury  www.cineworld.co.uk
Hemsley  Hemsley Arts Centre  www.hemsleyarts.co.uk
Hull  Cineworld Hull   www.cineworld.co.uk
Keswick  Alhambra Cinema  www.keswick-alhambra.co.uk
Knutsford Curzon Knutsford  www.curzoncinemas.com
Leeds  Showcase Leeds   www.showcasecinemas.com
Liverpool Picturehouse at FACT  www.picturehouses.co.uk
Sheffield Cineworld Sheffield  www.cineworld.co.uk
York  City Screen Picturehouse www.picturehouses.co.uk

WALES CINEMAS
Cardiff  Cineworld Cardiff  www.cineworld.co.uk
Llandudno Cineworld Llandudno  www.cineworld.co.uk
Newport  Cineworld Newport   www.cineworld.co.uk

SCOTLAND CINEMAS
Aberdeen The Belmont Picturehouse www.picturehouses.co.uk
Dundee  Dundee Contemporary Arts www.dca.org.uk
Edinburgh The Cameo   www.picturehouses.co.uk
Glasgow  Cineworld Glasgow Renfrew www.cineworld.co.uk

NB above information accurate at time of issue