Buxton festival's new staging of Handel's Amadigi di Gaula reimagines the baroque opera as a Love Island-style reality show, replacing the original's magic and sorcery with television trickery and swapping a sorceress for an all-powerful producer. Director Olivia Fuchs turns the composer's slight four-character plot into a knowing send-up of dating-show conventions, using props such as an inflatable flamingo and constant cameras to keep the concept playful while still allowing the emotional core of the story to land.

The production features sopranos Hilary Cronin and Rowan Pierce alongside countertenors James Hall and Tim Morgan (the latter stepping in as a late replacement), whose chemistry and vocal interplay are highlighted as central to the staging's success. Erin Helyard leads the English Concert with lively period-instrument playing, while Fuchs sustains the reality-TV conceit throughout, turning magical trials into gameshow-style challenges and using items like hair straighteners as instruments of onstage "torture". The review singles out Cronin's performance as Melissa for particular praise, alongside strong contributions from her co-stars.