For this production of The Coronation of Poppea , RSAMD have updated Monteverdi's 1642 opera to the modern day and relocated it from ancient Rome to a luxury hotel. It sits very comfortably in its new setting, surrounded by potted plants and leather sofas.

This reinterpretation allows for some masterful set design. The curtains open on a portion of hotel corridor, with the audience faced by three doors. As characters walk by, the numbers on the doors are changed to give an impression of distance. The exteriors then separate and swivel to reveal the interiors of the rooms behind the doors. With the stage team dressed as bellhops, and the set often being rearranged around the actors, the scene changes are effortlessly incorporated into the action.

The characters also adapt well to their modern setting. Poppea is portrayed as a shallow modern ‘celebrity', who would not be out of place on the cover of Hello magazine. Nero is part ruler, part crime lord; his bodyguards become black-suited heavies. It is slightly confusing that Nero (and in dee d, many of the other male characters) is played by a woman. In these modern times, it's evidently difficult to get hold of a good castrato…

The updated setting enables the darker aspects of the story to be studied. Nero's scheming wife Ottavia is brutally executed, for example, rather than merely exiled. Any notions of romance in the original story are resolutely secondary in this version to lust and desire. By the end though, this preoccupation with sex is starting to grow tiresome. Is there really a need for Poppea to spend the whole opera in her underwear?

During the interval, a maid absentmindedly vacuums the stage, a particularly nice touch which ensures continuity despite the mid Act break. This is typical of the many physical and visual moments which not only add humour to proceedings, but also bring the characters firmly to life. At times it is almost like watching a play, where the dialogue is sung rather than spoken. Any temptation to update the music, perhaps to modern instruments is resisted, with the small orchestra being led by a harpsichord and a chamber organ.

The three deities who watch over proceedings also successfully merge tradition with the modern day. The goddesses are updated as contemporary personifications. Love is a lipsticked, hair dyed punk warrior in combat pants, Fortune a latex-clad cybergoth with black and white hair and Virtue an old woman with a Zimmer frame. These three figures constantly survey the action, draping themselves over the top of the set to get a better view. Their retained presence, which could easily have been sacrificed to add credibility to a realist modern setting, adds a significant extra dimension to a well-planned production.