English Touring Opera (ETO) is set to transform the Gala Theatre Durham this May with two brand-new, contrasting productions that showcase the vast emotional range of the artform.

Directed by Eleanor Burke, Leoncavallo’s gritty masterpiece Pagliacci offers a visceral, 90-minute exploration of obsessive love and the dark side of fame. This production, featuring a new English translation by ETO Artistic Director Robin Norton-Hale, draws inspiration from the volatile real-life relationship of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. Starring soprano Paula Sides as Nedda and tenor Ronald Samm as Canio, it promises an overwhelming experience rooted in a real-life crime case. The mood shifts dramatically the following evening with The Gondoliers (pictured), ETO’s first-ever production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s fizzing comedy. Directed and choreographed by Olivier Award-winner Liam Steel, the production presents a technicolour vision of 18th-century Venice. The gist? It’s both an uproarious story of mistaken identity as well as a pointed class satire and it features Robin Bailey and Samuel Pantcheff as the titular gondoliers, Marco and Giuseppe. Already a critical mega-hit, the show has been hailed by The Guardian as a “masterclass in clarity over chaos”. Our advice: see both!

Pagliacci, Wednesday 20 May, 7.30pm, from £27; The Gondoliers, Thursday 21 May, 7.30pm, from £27. Gala Durham, galadurham.co.uk