• All performances start at 7pm
• Running time approximately 3 hours 20 minutes including one interval
• Sung in Italian with surtitles in English (and Welsh in Cardiff, Swansea and Llandudno)

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Synopsis

Act 1

The action is set in a British seaside town, home to a community of pier entertainers and fairground workers, as well as an immigrant Italian community which includes Don Alfonso and Despina and a visiting troop of Italian sailors.

Late one evening, two young sailors, Ferrando and Guglielmo argue with their new friend, the pier entertainer Don Alfonso, after an evening’s entertainment. They refuse to accept his idea that their girlfriends could ever be unfaithful. Alfonso wagers that, with their co-operation, he can prove his point within one day. Ferrando and Guglielmo accept the bet, anticipating victory and that their lovers will prove true.

The sisters Fiordiligi (engaged to Guglielmo) and Dorabella (who Guglielmo has set up with Ferrando) arrive in the town early the following morning and excitedly speak of marriage as they wait to be met by their young fiancés. Don Alfonso brings his bad news: the young men have been called away to sea, and must leave immediately. Guglielmo and Ferrando come to say goodbye: Fiordiligi and Dorabella are distraught. As the men depart, Don Alfonso joins the women in a plea to the elements for their safety.

Alone, Alfonso reiterates that putting faith in women’s loyalty is as futile as trying to plough the sea or catch the wind in a net.

The girls are left to stay in a local guesthouse above an ice cream parlour. Despina, a young single mother who is working there as a chambermaid and waitress, serves the girls their breakfast, only to find the sisters overcome with anguish. When she learns why, Despina, who is far more worldly than they are, advises them to look for new lovers, but the sisters will not hear of it.

Don Alfonso bribes Despina, protecting his wager by drawing her into his plot. He introduces her to the disguised Guglielmo and Ferrando as two strangers who will make good substitutes for the absent lovers.

The sisters come down from their bedroom and encounter by the two strangers. Indignant, the sisters spurn the men’s approaches. Don Alfonso then greets the "strangers" as old friends. Fiordiligi rejects the men, but they persist in their advances and the women flee back upstairs in anger. Guglielmo and Ferrando are delighted by their faithfulness so far, and Ferrando sings of the sustaining power of love.

Later, Fiordiligi and Dorabella reflect on how, in a moment, their lives have changed. They are interrupted by the two strangers who collapse in front of them, Don Alfonso explains that they have poisoned themselves in despair at their rejection. Despina advises summoning a doctor, and goes with Don Alfonso to fetch one. Fiordiligi and Dorabella approach the ailing men. Despina arrives disguised as the doctor and pretends to heal them with a mysterious magnet. Don Alfonso and Despina watch as the sisters tentatively nurse the men. Reviving, the strangers renew their amorous intentions. The women continue to resist.