It’s always an intriguing concept: staging Janácek’s Cunning Little Vixen at one of the country house opera festivals. As humans stroll about before the performance in evening dress, real vixens live and die nearby. At Grange Park, the point was vividly made: one operagoer’s skimpy dress wasn’t keeping out the chilly breeze, so a gentleman rushed up with a fur coat.

I wondered if the coat (fake fur, I’m sure) had been borrowed from wardrobe, but there’s nothing like that in David Alden’s new production. For one of the confusing things about this Vixen is the inconsistent way in which Alden, and his designer Gideon Davey, present the humans and the animals. The vixen herself, for example, at first carries a small piece of fox fur, but this prop is soon discarded. Perhaps Alden feels that the Forester represents Janácek himself (there’s an obvious visual similarity), and the vixen becomes the young woman he fell in love with.

Meanwhile the Frog is fully encased in a full, fat green costume, but the fox cubs are dressed in prep school Sunday best uniforms, with cardboard boxes over their heads. How much better Vixen comes across when a production is conceived without arty designer distractions – as in Longborough’s superb production last year.

But all is not lost. While the English Chamber Orchestra doesn’t always hit the orgasmic climaxes of Janácek’s score, there’s some memorable singing. Ailish Tynan is superb as a no-nonsense vixen, and there’s strong support from Frances Bourne as the Fox, and Robert Poulton as the Forester – his lyrical “Is it a fairy-tale, or true?” is beautifully delivered. Down the cast, the Cock (Wynne Evans) poignantly, and simply, underlines the opera’s message: winter is always followed by spring, and death is counterbalanced by birth. He cowers after the hens have indicated that they won’t be involving him in this natural cycle: his endowments are too puny.

n There are further performances at Grange Park, tonight, and on June 28 and 30, and July 4. Details of ticket availability: 01962 73 73 66.