First seen in Naples in 1827 this farce of a theatre within a theatre narrates the mishaps of a secondrate opera company as it stages the great serious drama Romolo ed Ersilia in a provincial theatre The unbearable tensions between the two lead singers are finally resolved with the decisive intervention of one of their mothers The coproduction by Ópera de Lyon along with the Grand Theâtre de Genève and Teatro Real is brought to life by Laurent Pelly a tireless champion of Donizettis comedies