Kiss Me, Figaro (tour – Beccles)

In the time-honoured tradition of what is sauce for the goose being equally palatable with the gander, Merry Opera have picked up on the compilation trend. Director John Ramster has devised a rom-com around the lives and loves of members of a small-scale touring opera company.

Kiss Me, Figaro! begins and finishes with the Mozart opera (a cappella humming of the overture, the Count's submission and plea for forgiveness at the end). In between we are involved in the on-off affair between Jenny and Thomas (played by Jenny Stafford and Thomas Elwin) through the music of their company's different productions.

Tenor Elwin comes in as a last-minute substitute in La Bohème; he hasn't encountered his Mimi since she caught him cheating on her two years previously. Don Giovanni and Sergeant Belcore (L'elisir d'amore) give outwardly-macho baritone George de Polignac (Alistair Ollerenshaw) the chance to strut his stuff. This he does to considerable effect.

Company director Marcus Sherwood (Matthew Quirk) is regretting his own divorce – though it doesn't stop him indulging in a bad attack of Direktor's Konzept (definitely of the most earnest eastern Teutonic variety) with The Mikado. Waiting in the wings for their chances to shine as principals are the two Tims – "high" Tim Hicks and "low" Tim Connor – Tristan Stocks and James Williams respectively.

One of the delights of this confection is that the backstage details are so well handled. It has the same sort of air of authenticity which Frayn's Noises Off affords; yes, it's all exaggerated but also the show must go on. Regardless of heartbreak. Monteverdi and Handel are among the composers plundered to make both dramatic and musical points; "Lascia ch’io pianga" from Rinaldo works particularly well in this context.

Kirstin Finnigan as Jacqueline Sherwood, the ex-wife who has seen it all before rather too many times, Teresa Pell as love- (or should that be lust-) sick Rachel Harman , Katherine Walker as Una Bryant and Stephen Hose as Sidney Austin all help to make this story to stick in the memory. It leaves one with a nice sense of having learnt something as well as enjoyed the evening.