Steady rain made the muddy pitch, which was criticised last week, even more difficult.

Patience was the key, especially when the steady rain became a torrent shortly before half-time.

In steady rain, the expectant crowd was largely bewildered and the fillies were inevitably unsettled.

Failure, disillusion and hilarious discomfort are the default human conditions here, but it's an oddly bracing production, with a steady rain of acute character impressions.

Crucially, the opera establishes a restless, though gradual, forward trajectory, a vortex of expectation shadowed by steady rain and mounting anxiety.