Calixto Bieito's production of Celestina for the Edinburgh Festival in August 2004 was predictable but exciting. Predictable for those who had seen his Don Giovanni at English National Opera and would be unfazed by a modernized cross-dressing production which takes place in a Spanish bar; exciting for Celestina specialists who would appreciate Bieito's deep knowledge of the text and his teasing out of barely submerged themes like Celestina's latent lesbianism. Kathryn Hunter negotiates the role of a male-suited and shaven-head bawd with her customary aplomb, and adds the correct quantity of wisecracking humour and scatological reference to the role, with the odd touch of Theâtre de Complicité training in Brechtian alienation (as in: if you think that this farrago of old saws is boring, there are hundreds of pages of this stuff in the uncut version). In fact, John Clifford's translation of the Comedia has been cut again by nearly half in order to make way for onstage music by the Sinfónica de Gavá (guitar, vocals, keyboard, bass, drums), and most of the love affair between Melibea and Calisto goes for a Burton. The production fuses on the picaresque part of the narrative. Calisto is a wealthy ne'er-do-well; his servants become his low-life pals at the bar-cum-brothel, and the rest of the entourage are prostitutes in Celestina's employ. Celestina's magic spell is transformed into a Black Mass, and Melibea is enchanted by a combination of magic and the drugs which Celestina procures for her.

The most effective moment of the production is the sudden switch from comedy to tragedy. Celestina auctions a virgin and intellectually-challenged Lucrecia (Sarah Paul) to the highest bidder, to laughter from the audience; when the distressed and injured girl returns to the stage the laughter of the audience freezes in their throats. The demise of Celestina, Sempronio (Neil McKinven) and Pármeno (Daniel Cerqueira) follows shortly afterwards. Our attention then shifts to the story of the lovers, but we see only one assignation. Calisto (Christopher Fox) takes Melibea as the girl lies in an opium dream; after their coupling she has to ask him who he is, despite the passion she has declared for him before his appearance. Calisto wanders off, but, as far as we can see, departs unscathed. Laura Rogers then does an outstanding job on Melibea's farewell to her father, as does David Acton on Pleberio's lament. The most important parts of these two speeches have been retained by Bieito. But the audience is left with the awful realization that Calisto's death is a delusion imagined by Melibea in a state of consciousness affected by witchcraft and drugs.

Collectors of Celestina memorabilia may be amused by the additional note that I was the featured 'talking head' on the topic of Celestina at the Edinburgh Festival, a lecture that was attended by a couple hundred tourists who had been booked to see the production. Their comments and questions afterwards were extremely interesting.

Dorothy Sherman Severin, University of Liverpool. dobby.severin@virgin.net