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Cecilia Stinton's new production of Rigoletto for Opera Holland Park updates its setting from Renaissance Mantua to the Bullingdon Club in the 1920s. And, while I was a little uncertain about this device at first – how would the dark power plays pan out, the roles of Duke and Jester make sense – it soon became clear that it was going to work. The Duke is still, well, a Duke and his jester becomes a veteran of the Great War, medals pinned to his chest, with a gammy leg and, wearing a bowler hat, presumably the college porter. The Bullingdon boys half drown a new boy in an absurd initiation rite, the opening party is full of cricket whites and rowers' blazers and the music begins as a jazzed-up version of Verdi played on a scratchy 78. Rigoletto has more than a touch of grand guignol and it has to be said that some of this is lost in its translation to a more modern era. When Monterone lays his curse on Rigoletto, for instance, it is hard to grasp why this makes him so fear

City of londonCity ofUnited kingdomCecilia stintonJake wiltshireStephen gaddLee reynoldsBullingdon clubOpera holland parkRenaissance mantuaGreat warLondon sinfoniettaAlison langerGeorgia mae bishopJacob phillips