NAKED women, a golden eagle and hunting dogs.

It can only mean one thing – another series of Ellen Kent operas is back in Dorset.

Ellen, at 65, is still going despite threats to quit in 2009.

Ellen’s shows, described as the Las Vegas of opera, are back with a bang, with new productions of Rigoletto and Madama Butterfly coming to Bournemouth Pavilion on October 2 and 3 respectively.

As I dial through to her Whitstable home, Ellen is starting off her week with a cigar and an espresso.

She is so passionate about her productions and cracks jokes so regularly that I can visualise her chuckling heartily beneath a fug of cigar smoke.

I knew I was in for a lively time the moment she turned to her daughter, who was in the same room, and asked: “Julia, where did we get the naked ladies from in Bournemouth?”

This is because Rigoletto, Verdi’s ‘masterpiece they tried to ban’, features a golden eagle, hunting dogs and naked women on stage.

Rescue dogs Ernie and Tracy from Dorset charity Greyhounds in Need will appear on the stage as two regal hunting dogs – Ellen’s wish as a long-term supporter of animal welfare.

The eagle is from Liberty’s Owl, Raptor and Reptile Centre in Ringwood and the ‘naked ladies’ are from the Arts University Bournemouth.

The piece reflects the sexual depravity of the Mantuan ducal court and due to its explicit content, Verdi’s original opera adaptation was banned as soon as it opened.

This is something Ellen, a self-proclaimed ‘risk-taker’, will not steer away from. She said she has re-introduced the controversial rape scene.

“We don’t do anything obscene, my sets are fabulous and we have naked breasts in chiffon.

“We made it to the Royal Albert Hall when we staged it before and it’s amazing how many of the opera gentlemen were using the binoculars.”

This will be the third time Ellen Kent has staged Rigoletto, but times seem to have changed, she said.

“It’s been nine years since we did Rigoletto but I think tastes and views are changing and the younger generation is becoming more politically correct.

“There’s one scene where the aristocrat’s daughter is kidnapped and is taken to a debauched court.

“The girl runs around for a long time in a cloak trying to escape and in that scene she is raped – all of that is left to the imagination and she’s then thrown naked onto the floor. The Welsh National Opera has naked men and women, but I don’t want to see naked men. I don’t want to see men’s bits on the stage!”

Ellen has had to battle to stage these operas, having to shift sets and costumes from embattled Ukraine to Moldova, where she is partly based.

She said: “We were about 40 miles from Donetsk. The foreign office advised us not to go there because of danger of kidnapping and execution.

“We sent trucks to Ukraine, going right through the trouble. We were warned they would be stopped by bandits but that didn’t happen.”

Performers are flying in from all over the world for Ellen’s latest batch of shows – also including La Traviata – and she has Russians working alongside Ukranians.

“They are friends, the arts is not political at all,” she said.

Ellen is showing no signs of slowing up yet, with tours booked until autumn 2016.

“I do it for the love of it.

“I take a lot of risks and I do it because life is for living. If you don’t go for it, you’ve led a second rate life.”

Rigoletto is on October 2 and Madama Butterfly is on October 3 at the Bournemouth Pavilion.

See ellenkent.com and bournemouthpavilion.co.uk