“[Billy’s] nemesis is Brindley Sherratt, transcending his usual level of excellence to create a Claggart whose malevolence is all the more chilling for being so contained and purposeful. The word ‘love’ can rarely have sounded nastier than it does in his mouth.”
Rupert Christiansen, The Telegraph, 12 August 2012
“There’s no doubting the sinister force of Brindley Sherratt’s Claggart however, whose menacing physicality is offset by the beauty of his tone. His villain is all the more potent for his musical appeal, incongruous to magnificent effect in a moment such as his ‘Let him crawl,’ of the recently-beaten Novice”
Alexandra Coghlan, The Arts Desk, 11 August 2013
“Brindley Sherratt was making his role debut as Claggart, singing with incisive phrasing and glowering menace; his paean to beauty can seldom have sounded so threatening.”
Melanie Eskenazi, Music OMH, 11 August 2013
“The central characters are peerlessly played. We watch the evolution of Brindley Sherratt’s satanic Claggart as he stifles the sexual attraction he feels for his victim…”
Michael Church, The Independent, 12 August 2013
“Brindley Sherratt’s magnetic performance as the master-at-arms Claggart. His attraction to the handsome and innocent new recruit Billy Budd is barely articulated in the text, and yet in this performance we sense it’s the chink in Claggart’s armour that is the key to a deep self-loathing.”
Edward Bhesania, The Stage, 12 August 2013
“Brindley Sherratt is evil-personified as Claggart – prowling the stage menacingly and unwavering in his desire to destroy Billy Budd. His voice is as black as his soul, a nihilistic Iago-like character who also exudes ‘motiveless malignancy’ from every pore.”
Keith McDonnell, What’s on Stage, 12 August 2013
“Brindley Sherratt sings Claggart, the sadistic sergeant-at-arms whose passion for Billy leads to a twisted need to destroy him, the deep resonances of his sepulchral bass matching the malevolent physicality of an interpretation that retains a painfully self-hating humanity while outlining a full-scale demonic being.”
George Hall, The Guardian, 12 August 2013
“Britten’s music is often sublime: Brindley Sherratt summoned up the combination of cantabile beauty and patent evil.”
David Karlin, Bachtrack, 11 August 2013
“Brindley Sherratt’s strongly sung Claggart, who is more convincing than his predecessor as the Devil on earth and manages to prowl the deck without degenerating into a comic-book villain.”
Richard Fairman, Financial Times, 12 August 2013
“Brindley Sherratt had to depict one of the most unpleasant characters in the whole of opera. Melville originally saw Claggart as a malign character lacking any discernible motive in the Iago or Scarpia mould but Crozier and Britten added additional layers of complexity. Sheratt really took us into the heart of darkness in the aria, ‘Oh beauty, oh handsomeness, goodness’ with the self-loathing and sexual sadism of the character spilling out. He seemed to find just the right balance between menace and creepy seductiveness.”
Robert Beattie, Seen and Heard, 12 August 2013
“Brindley Sherratt is quite superb as the evil Claggart, whose combination of envy and suppressed lust for Billy Budd makes him determined to have the young man put to death.”
William Hartston, Daily Express, 13 August 2013
“The formidable Brindley Sherratt, meanwhile, is granite-like and baleful as Claggart, the HMS Indomitable’s loathed (and loathsome) Master-at-Arms. Sherratt’s very stillness is fearsome, as is the dark hue with which he colours his resonant bass timbre.”
Mark Valencia, Classical Source, 14 August 2013
“It’s Sherratt, though, who gives this revival an extra kick. Conniving evil drips from each syllable, even his baldness becomes malevolent.”
Geoff Brown, The Times, 14 August 2013
“Brindley Sherratt’s Claggart demonstrated his ability to personify the evil in this twisted character.”
Michael Kennedy, Opera, October 2013
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