Macbeth's eastern promise

Shostakovich's brilliant 1934 score for Lady Macbeth could oh so easily go wrong on stage. The abrupt changes of mood - from pathos to vaudeville or from horror to comedy - could easily seem tricksy or even dull.

But not when you have a conductor (Antonio Pappano) and director (Richard Jones) who are both alive to the work's profound emotional depths, and who both have a delicious sense of gallows humour, too. Instead you get a gut-wrenching, laugh-out-loud, disconcerting triumph.

The opera tells the story of Katerina, a provincial merchant's wife, who murders her father-in-law and husbandtobe with her lover Sergei.

Jones puts the work in a non-specific 1950s Eastern bloc setting, which creates a sense of grim stagnation and a place where the absurd seems possible. John Macfarlane's sets are also full of wonderful surprises, which it would be churlish to reveal.

Katarina Dalayman gives a stupendous performance as Katerina. Both vocally and theatrically, her ability to make you feel sympathy towards her character is another reason for the work's success.

John Tomlinson (the father-in-law) and Christopher Ventris (Sergei) are also both stunning, and the orchestra and chorus perform like a dream. This is wild.

In rep until Apr 20, Royal Opera House, Bow Street WC2, 7pm, Apr 17, 6.30pm, £4 to £75. Tel: 020 7304 4000. www.royalopera.org Tube: Covent Garden