David Jackson (and my) magnum opus about the gods of ancient Greece had its third production in Lecco, Italy in May 2011. The show involved masses of children ('How many?' We asked the organisers. 'We stopped counting at three hundred,' they told us.) and was performed in the partially-roofed yard of a steel works (only in Italy)... The show, which involves Zeus hurling thunderbolts at all and sundry, was accompanied by a real storm which blew down one of the lighting towers. The children maintained perfect behaviour for hours, and sang beautifully, late into the night. Afterwards David and I were taken to 'the only place in the City the serves food and drink this late,' to find a few students and their girlfriends quietly sipping small glasses of beer and eating pizza. It was hard to explain how different all this would be in England.

Photographer: Judge Smith