Lucia di Lammermoor

Composer: Gaetano Donizetti Director: David Alden Conductor: Stuart Stratford English National Opera, London Coliseum, St Martin’s Lane, London WC2 (020-7845 9300). Until 5 December Running time: 2hrs 50mins (including interval)

The ENO’S first two productions this season weren’t much to write home about, said William Hartston in the Daily Express. A “distinctly dodgy” production of Richard Strauss’s Salome was followed by an only moderately persuasive stab at Porgy and Bess by George Gershwin. But with its third outing, Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, the ENO has “hit pure gold”. Based on a Walter Scott novel, it tells the tragic tale of Lucia, a Scottish noblewoman brutally forced into a political marriage by her brother, who stabs her new husband to death on their wedding night. The opera is seen by some critics as Donizetti’s finest, but until watching this stunning revival of David Alden’s 2008 ENO production, I hadn’t quite realised just how great a work it is.

As a “cocky young whippersnapper”, I once bridled at the view – put to me by a much more experienced critic – that Lucia di Lammermoor was a “masterpiece”, said Rupert Christiansen in The Daily Telegraph. Yet this staging “blazingly demonstrates” the truth of that assessment. The score, whose vivid colours are here brought to life with “intense engagement” by conductor Stuart Stratford, is as richly expressive as any by an Italian of the period. “Rossini never came up with anything as dramatically purposeful” as the sextet Chi mi frena in tal momento, and Lucia’s Alfin son tua runs on a “melody as lyrically eloquent as anything by Bellini”. The duets are electrically charged, the choruses brilliantly managed. A masterpiece, no question.

Alden has “scrupulously reworked” his production for this outstanding revival, subtle and disturbing in equal measure, said Tim Ashley in The Guardian. It is very strong musically, with tremendous choral singing, and is blessed with an “exceptional” cast. Eleazar Rodriguez, the Mexican tenor, is “impeccably stylish and intense” as Lucia’s beloved, Edgardo. And Sarah Tynan triumphs as Lucia, singing with a “silvery purity” of tone, an “exquisite sense of line” and a “thrilling” accuracy in the upper registers. Her “coloratura is admirably liquid, yet always placed at the service of the drama”. All told, this is a “superbly cogent piece of theatre”.

The week’s other opening Dealing with Clair Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond (020-8940 3633). Until 1 December

Although written 30 years ago, this “fiendishly clever” drama by Martin Crimp, about the deceits and evasions involved in buying and selling houses, is “rivetingly a play for today” (Guardian).