The thrill of early Verdi is that his music so often contains the germs of what was to make him a great opera composer in later years. It is easy to see why Un Giorno di Regno was a disaster at its first performance. The young Verdi seems to have been unwilling or unable to learn from the slick elegance of his main Italian predecessors, Rossini and Donizetti. By their standards there is much here that is clumsy. But again and again there are details and passages that Verdi reworked to stunning effect in Rigoletto, Don Carlos, Aida and even Otello. It is as though his originality was already there in an uncut state, and just needed refining.

Aidan Lang is a marvellous director for the work. He has that rare skill of being able to put in jokes and stage business without ever getting in the way of the music. So Verdi's raw talent gets through while the drama stays taut and often hilariously funny. Help here comes from the deft English translation of Mark Herman and Ronnie Apter, fleshed out with a few Gilbertian gags. By a remarkable use of the stage Lang also creates the impression that the tiny Buxton chorus is absolutely the right size for the work. Nigel Hook's designs add to this: he sets the opera in its original period (though with many inventive design details) and so helps the audience to follow the logical thread of Romani's bizarrely illogical story.

Wyn Davies conducts and gains from the Northern Chamber Orchestra the kind of precision and delicacy that easily overrides the occasional coarseness of Verdi's writing. This is classy musicianship. On stage, the superb comic timing of Donald Maxwell and Eric Roberts is a true delight and gets the story well under way. Riccardo Simonetti is well cast as the officer who has to masquerade as a king, and he is well partnered by Sandra Ford, who matches her glorious voice with the most expressive range of facial emotions. Funny, clearly presented and superbly performed, this is the way to hear early Verdi.

In rep until July 21. Box office: 01298 72190.