Apollo, Oxford Sultry, sexy and smoky. Glyndebourne Touring Opera's season at the Oxford Apollo opened on Tuesday with Bizet's classic tale of passion and jealousy.

This is the story of an impressionable soldier (Peter Auty) who, despite his intentions of getting back on the straight and narrow, is lured further off it by the sensuous cigarette-factory girl.

It opens with a claustrophobic set, filled with soldiers, children and townsfolk. When the factory girls have a break and come out for air, and a cigarette or two, there are about fifty people.

The action, the drive and the best visuals are from the women. These factory workers are just right, turning on the soldiers' lights with their smiles and their bodies, and then with that characteristic Mediterranean flick -- of the hand, the face, or the body -- switch them off again, plunging them into depths of despair and sexual frustration.

The sexual tension increases in the second act but by the third, things have changed dramatically and the hatred and contempt between the erstwhile lovers is palpable.

Unfortunately Christine Rice was indisposed, but flying in Allison Clark from Germany was an excellent move.

Her Carmen was well worth the effort -- and I would be quite happy to share an orange with her any day.

It was good to look at. The sets and costume did much to relay the feeling of the moment. The almost monochromatic first act was a good backdrop for the blood red used to make Carmen stand out. Red, too, was important in the final act but by then the whole stage was awash with it, sumptuous costumes, the heat of the sun, the flurry of leaves and of course... well, you will have to go. The Glyndebourne season continues with Albert Herring tonight, Carmen again tomorrow, and Eugene Onegin on Saturday, all starting at 7.15pm.

RICHARD HOLLINGUM