It would be hard to find two operas that are more different than Benjamin Britten’s tough seafaring epic Billy Budd and Mozart’s comic tale Cosi Fan Tutte.

The pair are running in repertoire at Glyndebourne in the first week of the 2010 season.

And one of the people responsible for creating those contrasting atmospheres is Seven Dials-based lighting designer Paule Constable.

“I did the lighting design for Cosi Fan Tutte on tour in 2006, so Glyndbourne asked me to come back for this revival,” she says.

“I think if I had been trying to design the two shows now from scratch it would be very hard. It means I can concentrate on new creative ideas for Billy Budd.”

Britten’s 1951 all-male opera is based on Herman Melville’s allegorical short novel about the battle between good and evil, set on a British man-o’-war.

The libretto, which was co-written by novelist E M Forster, features memorable characters such as as the innocent sailor who lends his name to the opera (South African baritone Jacques Imbrailo), John Claggart, the black-hearted master-at-arms, (Canadian bass Phillip Ens) and Captain Vere, (British tenor John Mark Ainsley), whose actions, or lack of them, lead to tragedy.

Directing the tale, in his first foray into opera, is Michael Grandage, the artistic director of London’s Donmar Warehouse.

“Michael and I have done a lot of theatre together, particularly musicals, which are a similar discipline,” says Paule.

“It is a big machine. When you do get to work on the full thing, with the orchestra and chorus together, you are very short of time, it tends to be very sporadic and stop/start.

“It can be tricky, but Michael has learned quickly, and it is inspiring to see him run with this new form. Britten is very theatrical, there aren’t many abstract concepts which there can be with opera. It is a sad, human story.”

The opera is told in flashback as Captain Vere looks back with regret on the case of Billy Budd, a young sailor press-ganged on to his ship, who is falsely accused of mutiny.

“Britten is very demanding,” says Paule. “The scenes are constantly changing, there are a lot of people on stage at certain times – it has an 80-strong chorus – and at other points there are only two people making it quite intimate.

“But that is why Glyndebourne is so extraordinary, the nature of the space is amazing, you can achieve those enormous opera moments if you need to, but there is also an extraordinary intimacy.”

The space is also having to deal with quick change arounds between the two operas, which frequently only have a 24-hour gap between performances.

“To witness the change from one to another is unbelieveable,” says Paule. “You can finish a rehearsal and ten minutes later the stage is clear and something else is being brought on.”

Paule has previously provided lighting design for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s new musical Love Never Dies, the latest production of Les Miserables and the National Theatre’s smash hit War Horse, which will be going on to Broadway later this year.

This year will see her at New York’s Metropolitan Opera for their latest season, work on a series of new plays at the Royal Court and spend Christmas in Japan with a new production of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde.

“I love that mixture of opera, musicals and theatre,” she says.

“I wouldn’t like to just focus on one.”

* Cosi Fan Tutte opens at Glyndebourne on Saturday, and runs until Saturday, July 17.

*5.10pm, except Sunday, June 27, 3.55pm, tickets from £10, call 01273 8138136