The Earl de Grey: A Hull Folk Opera

Set in west Hull’s Hessle Road fishing community in the early 1950s, The Earl de Grey: a Hull Folk Opera tells the story of Rita Scarr, her husband Jack and how their precarious lives become intertwined with Ezra, who works at Hull’s infamous house of ill repute, the Earl de Grey.

The folk opera jumps back and forth in time, anchoring in Hull’s post-industrial present before returning to its heady and capricious maritime heyday. Chris Wilson fuses narrative poetry with original song.

Original music and lyrics: Chris Wilson and the London Sea Shanty Collective