VERDI’S masterpiece Rigoletto has been updated to Washington DC and it’s impossible not to draw parallels with Donald Trump’s predatory sexual approach towards women, perfectly captured in James Macdonald’s production, with designer Robert Innes Hopkins’s sets having a Mad Man vibe about them.

But above all it is the performances that bring the production to such vivid life. In the opening act, Mark Doss’s Rigoletto teeters on the brink of playing the hunchback jester as a grotesque but pulls back with his portrayal of fatherly love for his wronged daughter, Gilda.

David Junghoon Kim’s slippery Duke, a misogynist cut from the same cloth as Trump, uses his position of power to have any woman he fancies. His lascivious eye has been drawn to Marina Monzo’s Gilda at Sunday church service and she has noticed him too.

Dressed as an impoverished student he woos her with lies and protestations of love as he takes his leave from her but his henchmen arrive to kidnap Gilda to deliver her to their boss’s bed.

When Rigoletto realises what has happened his rage and anguish are intense and the distraught father takes Gilda to a bar to spy on the Duke wooing yet another woman.

Hearing the rascal singing La donna e mobile — one of Verdi’s instantly recognisable arias — Gilda realises that she was tricked, but still proclaims her love. It is true that the Devil has the best tunes and Kim’s rendition of the famous aria is beautiful.

Both Monzo and Doss draw us in completely to their searingly honest exchange, with Rigoletto seeking revenge while Gilda continues to declare her love and begs her father to leave the wicked Duke alone.

Of course that cannot happen — the enraged father may have been happy when the Duke preyed on other women but wants revenge when it happens to his daughter.

The ensuing tragic ending is very well done and wrings every last drop of emotion from the riverside scene.

Hats off to WNO for echoing the #MeToo movement and delivering an evening of great acting, singing and heartache.

Tours until November 30, details wno.org.uk.