English Touring Opera has had success with Handel in recent years, but that doesn't mean the composer's operas travel well. Take Alcina: suggesting we are on an enchanted island ruled by the eponymous sorceress, who has a habit of turning discarded lovers into stones, waves and trees, is tricky with a lavish permanent set, let alone something that has to fit on a variety of stages and be dismantled before bedtime.

James Conway's new production - which alternates with Verdi's Falstaff - tries hard, but a look at the synopsis is still vital. In his interpretation, Melisso and Bradamante are Puritans come to rescue Ruggiero from the decadence of Alcina's realm - a platform strewn with baroque-era detritus including a fusty, fallen chandelier and a spinet filled with water to suggest the sea. Joanna Parker's set looks good, but much of the budget seems to have gone on elements that don't illuminate the narrative, including a suspended framework that may or may not be the mouldering insides of that spinet. The simplest ideas work best, and the flickering of harsh, fluorescent light as Ruggiero is literally disenchanted and shown the shabbiness of his surroundings is perhaps the production's most effective moment.

Handel is not always easy to cast, either, and most of the singers take a while to warm into their roles. Amanda Echalaz's high-tension voice sounds cumbersome at first, but it suits the increasingly deranged arias with which she carries most of the final act. Her strongest support comes from Tamsin Coombs, who brings a bright soprano and sugary charm to Alcina's sister Morgana, and Louise Poole, who proves a warm, athletic-voiced Ruggiero. Gary Cooper's orchestra, its sound coloured by a dark theorbo twang, occasionally needs to back off a bit; but his pacy conducting keeps a long evening from dragging.

· At the Swan, High Wycombe, on Friday. Box office: 01494 512000. Then touring.