The Yeomen of the Guard contains the very best of Gilbert and Sullivan: a pair of cunningly contrived plots that interweave to perfection, a sublime mix of comedy and pathos, and an earworm-filled score that marries sparkling wit with real emotional and dramatic weight. It’s not easy to pull off – the libretto, written in mock Elizabethan, does not easily trip off the tongue – but in the right hands the situational humour is genuinely funny, while the casual cruelty of its conclusion can reduce an audience to tears.

Alexandra Oomens as Elsie and Richard McCabe as Point in ENO’s The Yeomen of the Guard. All photos © Tristram Kenton

English National Opera’s new production is a hit and miss affair. Jo Davies’ staging looks good and her 1950s update is a sound idea, although inconsistently carried through. Chris Hopkins leads a shapely account of the score and the singing is pretty decent. The acting, however, sometimes falters. It’s left to Richard McCabe as the broken-hearted jester Jack Point to land the opera’s emotional body blows.

Gilbert set the action in the England of Elizabeth I, hence the...