Verdi faced quite a bit of trouble in his efforts to stage Rigoletto, so much so that it was almost banned. The prudish Austrian censors of Northern Italy were not too pleased with the racy themes – lust, seduction, youthful dalliance – of Victor Hugo’s original play. They weren’t happy about Verdi’s bitingly satirical treatment of official corruption, either. Nonetheless he conspired to get the opera made and was immediately vindicated as it was deemed a classic from the moment it premiered (in 1851).

For a modern opera company, that’s a big problem: everyone has their own Rigoletto, their favourite performance of the ‘tunes’, their favourite setting of the plot. When doing a modern interpretation, you run the risk of either boring the audience or of annoying them with gimmickry.

To its credit, Opera Queensland has pulled it off. Director Lindy Hume and designer Richard Roberts have created a believable and imaginative new setting of the old favourite. They’ve updated Rigoletto from corrupt 1850s Italy to corrupt 2000s Italy under the scandalous rule of a Silvio Berlusconi.

The first scene is the real triumph. The chorus charge in through a magnificent set of double-doors – a sexually charged boy’s club. The...