TALES of Offenbach, two hilarious one-act operas by the French master of comic opera Jacques Offenbach, head to the Theatre Royal Winchester for one unforgettable evening on Wednesday.

The operas Croquefer & L’Ile de Tulipatan will be sung in English and performed by Opera della Luna.

Croquefer has imprisoned the daughter of his arch-rival Mousse-a- Mort with who he has been at war for 23 years. Despite having lost most of his body parts, including his tongue at the Crusades, Mousse-a-Mort is determined to fight one last battle to save his daughter.

Their bloody final fight-to-the-death is only prevented by the deft interference of Croquefer’s housekeeper, who cunningly poisons the water, thereby inflicting on all residents of the castle devastating episodes of loose bowels!

On the island of Tulipatan, King Cacatois XXll is unaware that his only son and heir, Alexis, is in fact biologically his daughter. Knowing how desperate he was for a son, the doctors concealed the child’s true sex from the King, who has grown increasingly despairing of his son’s gentle disposition.

Coincidentally, in order to avoid her child being conscripted into the army, the wife of the King’s Field Marshall has also lied to her husband about their daughter, who is in fact a boy. How extraordinary it would be if these two bizarrely brought-up children were to meet and somehow fall in love...

Tickets from theatreroyalwinchester.co.uk or 01962 840 440.