Most of us are happy with the original rustic comedy of Donizetti's fancy, but not Jude Kelly, who makes her operatic debut with this clever new production of L'Elisir for English National Opera.

"I didn't want to set it in a hayfield and simply go for generalised pastoral," she says, and has instead invented an anonymous little country town of the 1940s. The community is mildly regimented, though well content; there is a hint of political oppression in a more-than-lifesize statue outside the town hall, and Dulcamara - who has acquired a delightful wife in the person of the dancer, Kyrie Hardiman - is cast as a benign anarchist/liberator figure who releases everyone from conformity. Except for a few famous solos, the music under the direction of Michael Lloyd takes second place to stage action in this production concept. Much of its success derives from Quincy Sacks's comic choreography, from the constant exploitation of caricature, and all of it is enhanced by Robert Jones's splendid dual-purpose set.

Although he sings with artistry throughout and delivers Una Furtiva Lagrima with impeccable tone and phrasing, it takes Barry Banks an undue length of time to establish Nemorino as a character. Mary Plazes, however, is a strong and lively Anna, Ashley Holland a suitably swashbuckling Belcore, but the star of the show is Andrew Shore whose robust comic presence and expert singing produce a thoroughly outrageous Dulcamara.