When conductor Christian Curnyn brings his Early Opera Company to Iford, the conjunction is always well-nigh perfect, and with a lineup of rising stars singing Handel as stylishly as could be wished, this was a musical experience to be savoured. Benjamin Hulett's elegant tenor, every word distinct, and Mary Bevan's gracefully expressive soprano were the perfect embodiment of Acis and Galatea's shepherd/shepherdess love idyll (while it lasted, which admittedly wasn't long). They matched each other in vocal poise and were complemented by a beautiful instrumental accompaniment.

But while their chances of future rural bliss are doomed by the murderous giant Polyphemus – the fine Polish bass Lukas Jacobski looming large and menacing – director Pia Furtado rocked the stability of Handel's scenario by translating it into an 18th-century equivalent of urban clubland. Taking her cue from an opening number extolling the "pleasure of the plains", she and designer Georgia Lowe created a pleasure garden of the Iford cloister, where the pimping Polyphemus has Galatea inside a gilded birdcage, pole dancing baroque-style for the gratification of potential clients. It may add a horrible irony to the aria in which Galatea tries to hush the bird-song that ignites her passion, but too much of it feels staged to inflame audience interest.

A dark element introduced at the end is more telling: bending to bathe her face in the fountain of water that has sprung from Acis's blood, Galatea attempts to drown herself and her sorrows. In thwarting a suicide, Christopher Turner's glitter-faced Damon finally shows his own attachment to Galatea, but fails to thwart her rape by Polyphemus. Only Curnyn's sure hand enabled Handel to survive unviolated.

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