Performer: Marc Callahan

Tim Benjamin's new opera is full of good ideas: too full, of too many of them, with a lacklustre and tired plot that doesn't deliver what it promises, despite a gifted and committed cast who resolutely try their best.

Donizetti’s melodramma giocoso in two acts, L’elisir d’amore, is a light-hearted tale of love overcoming all obstacles, with the help of a little “love potion”.

How much wine can a cast pretend to drink over the course of one production? If such a record has been set Adam Spreadbury-Maher, Ben Cooper and Robin Norton-Hale’s Don Giovanni presents a good challenge. For much of this production characters, music and set seemed drunk on wine and melodrama, high on the drug of their own confident style – but all were ultimately weakened by their instability.