Two of the most popular operas in the repertoire come to Brighton's Theatre Royal at the start of June.

Verdi's La Traviata and Mozart's Don Giovanni have both been given makeovers by English Touring Opera, one of the best touring opera companies in the country.

Guiseppe Verdi's La Traviata is the tragic tale of Violetta, a courtesan of Second Empire France who falls in love with a rich man's son only to have it wrenched away to prevent scandal.

A tear-jerker from the start, this opera is chock-full of great tunes and arias which cannot help but melt your heart and bring a lump to your throat.

In this production, the action is moved forward to Thirties France to capture all the glamour and decadence of Paris at that time.

An insider tells me the celebration scenes are "all you might wish for at a party" and the show is "full of stockings and suspenders".

ETO's music director Andrew Greenwood, who will conduct La Traviata, says: "This was Verdi's dissection of the hypocrisy of Parisian society which was just as valid in the Thirties as it was when the opera was first written in 1853.

"It elevates, celebrates and then destroys the life of an essentially moral woman and that is what raises this from melodrama to genuine tragedy."

Don Giovanni, too, has been updated. Mozart's dramatic comedy which deals with the downward progress of a notorious womaniser, rapist and murderer is still set in the back streets and ballrooms of Spain but this time in the Fifties, when Franco's stern hand kept the country to a tight moral code.

Starring in the the role of Don Ottavio is Darren Abrahams, who grew up in Hove and was a pupil at Hove Park School.

"This a powerful opera and the update really makes sense," says Darren, 30, now a graduate of the Royal College of Music and the prestigious National Opera Studio.

"Spain in the Fifties was very conservative and Catholic. Franco didn't like scandal at all so it was very much like the 18th Century Mozart knew.

"Don Ottavio has been seen as a wimpish role but I see him as a gentleman getting out of his depth. His fiancee Donna Anna may or may not have been raped by Giovanni, her father has been murdered and she is intent on revenge.

"He has never seen her like that before and is rather shocked by her intensity. When she reveals Don Giovanni was the man involved, Don Ottavio finds it difficult to believe another supposed gentleman could act in that way.

"My character and that of Giovanni are cut from similar cloth but my character believes in the code and Giovanni does not.

"Don Giovanni is perhaps the finest thriller in all classic opera and it is a wonderfully moral tale. The villain really does get his comeuppance."

Conducting Don Giovanni will be James Morgan, director of Brighton Festival Chorus. Both operas will be sung in English and ETO will field a full orchestra.

On Friday and Saturday, there will be free pre-show talks given by members of the artistic team. These begin at 6.30pm.

La Traviata can be heard on Wednesday and Friday evenings and Don Giovanni on Thursday and Saturday.