Since 1932 the Central City Opera has presented summer opera in this old Colorado silver town, and at first glance it looked as though humble miners’ quarters might be the habitat for The Rape of Lucretia. On the open stage is a one-room shack on rocky terrain, with wooden crates as furniture – an unprepossessing sight for an opera set in ancient Rome. Paul Curran’s production shifts the action to the 1940s, when Europe itself, as he has observed, was raped and also when the opera was written. The tale of violence and its dire consequences is thus drawn more closely to Britten’s own pacifism. Kevin Knight’s ordinary designs help make the violence seem mundane.

As the plot is set in motion, the three men in American army uniforms drinking beer and discussing the loose morals of Roman women (the faithful Lucretia excepted) could have stepped from the opening scene of Così fan tutte. Later we see the “Roman prince” Tarquinius attend to his grooming before embarking on his fatal conquest of Lucretia’s virtue.