THE third and final work in Opera North's Fatal Passions triple bill was Verdi's masterpiece Un Ballo in Maschera (A Masked Ball).

Amazingly this tremendous musical work receives few run outs and it's a credit to Opera North that a packed house lapped up every morsel of this unrequited love triangle based on a real-life event, when King Gustavo of Sweden was assassinated in 1792.

Verdi's music throughout is wonderful and there is never a dull moment in the proceedings.

Director Tim Albery places this in the mid-20th century with men wearing double-breasted suits and played out on a simple set; red drapes slowly rise and, using stunning lighting, a great hall is consequently quickly converted into an office, a public house, an execution site, a front room and a ballroom to keep the action flowing.

With a conspiratorial feel of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and Macbeth, we discover there are plots around court to kill the king (Adriano Graziani) who is protected by his faithful secretary Oscar (Tereza Gevorgyan) and loyal advisor Count Anckarstrom (Philip Rhodes).

Apparently the king has financially ruined powerful families and even murdered people. We're told this but never shown, which is a weakness in the storytelling. Likewise how the king and Anckarstrom's wife Amelia (Adrienn Miksch) have a clandestine, unconsummated love affair.

However, once you buy into the narrative it's a roller coaster of a ride.

The turning point is the king being told by the fortune teller (Patricia Bardon) that the next man he shakes hands with is his slayer. That man is Count Anckarstrom.

Their tryst is discovered and Anckarstrom delivers the fatal blow at a masked ball.

The whole cast sing and act well. It's a collective stunning performance but the piece is underpinned by Verdis' great score wonderfully conducted by Richard Farnes.

Ed Waugh