Venue: Royal Academy of Music, London
Director: Matthew Hiscock
Dates: September - November 2000

Written in the 1950s, set during the Roman Empire, yet with a Christian framework, this opera defies specific period! I concentrated initially on the Male and Female Chorus, who comment on and, I felt, are gradually drawn into the action. I put them into a fluid environment initially influenced by Gustav Klimpt, they then were drawn into the Byzantian-influenced world of Lucrectia, before finally emerging into the contemporary world, leaving the Roman story behind them. The set was an open space which could swiftly move in time and location; the costumes reflected the pure, pale Roman world accessorised in the garish colours of the Etruscan rule; the imagery of the text reflected in the props surrounding the characters.

Jessica Stack's allusive, dove-grey classical setting with a swagged cloth canopy above a central raked platform, emotively lit by Flick Ansell, worked a treat.
David Blewitt, The Stage