Ryedale Festival does what all festivals should but few do. It delves into parts of the repertory where other promoters fear to tread.

RFO’s latest venture at the weekend was typical: a double bill of rare one-act operas.

In fact, Britten’s The Prodigal Son is properly a ‘church parable’, but in Joe Austin’s production it became much more than that.

It was paired with what was once known as Mendelssohn’s Son and Stranger, now to be called, in this gleaming, witty new translation by John Warrack, The Homecoming.

Its sketchy plot involves a family foursome, of which the father is about to celebrate his 20th anniversary as the village’s mayor.

A confidence-trickster (Kauz) arrives just before the son Hermann returns from military service, and tries to impersonate him, duping all but the family’s foster-daughter (the son’s sweetheart), Lisbeth. Kauz tries further guises as recruiting officer and night-watchman, but is eventually unmasked and the celebrations eventually follow.

The story may be thin but the music is charming, Iain Farrington’s subtle chamber version of the score sounding more than adequate in Hovingham’s Riding School and efficiently conducted by Elizabeth Burgess.

Rebecca Hodgetts made an engaging Lisbeth, pert and flighty, well partnered by Daniel Joy’s more serious Hermann. James Harrison energetically extracted a maximum of humour from his Kauz, with Trevor Alexander and Kathy Taylor-Jones as an assured mayoral pair.

The Britten, also involving a homecoming, was a smart choice as opener. The younger son’s descent into destitution in the urban fleshpots was particularly evocative.

Words were not easy to discern, but Mark Chaundy’s devilish Tempter, Trevor Alexander’s understanding Father, James Harrison’s irate Elder Son and Daniel Joy’s neurotic Younger Son were astutely partnered by the small orchestra, notably by solo viola as the prodigal’s alter ego. A most satisfying evening.