THERE'S a rare opportunity to see Barber’s Pulitzer Prize-winning work – opera from the age of Hitchcock, with an atmospheric score and tense, psychological twists at Bridport Arts Centre and the Marine Theatre in Lyme on Tuesday. (14)

Abandoned by her lover Anatol, Vanessa retreats from the world, waiting and hoping with only her mother and her niece Erika for company.

But when, 20 years later, Anatol’s handsome young son arrives unexpectedly, he shatters the calm of this shuttered household of women. Past and present love collides, and the aftershocks threaten to destroy them all.

*Vanessa, Bridport Arts Centre, Marine Theatre, Lyme Regis, Tuesday, August 14, 6.30pm. Call the relevant box office for tickets.