There has been too little chance to reassess Elizabeth Maconchy's music in her centenary year, but Independent Opera's staging of two of her one-act pieces makes some amends. However, neither of these works - The Sofa, from 1957, and The Departure, which appeared four years later - make the case that they have been unfairly neglected.

As a double bill they are well contrasted. The Sofa is a farcical comedy, based on a story by Crébillon, about a playboy who is turned into a sofa by a disapproving grandmother with magical powers, and is only transformed back again when a couple make love on top of him. In The Departure, a woman killed in a car crash revisits her home as a ghost for a final meeting with her husband. While the score for The Sofa romps along as a series of Malcolm Williamson-style pastiches, The Departure has a more consistent, sombre sound-world, with a few moments that recall Maconchy's orchestral and instrumental writing.

Neither, though, establishes a real musical character of its own, and the dramatic pacing often falters. There's just not enough wit or zip in The Sofa, not enough psychological penetration in The Departure - in fact, nowhere near enough substance in either to justify these lavish stagings. The hyperactivity of Alessandro Talevi's production of The Sofa overwhelms the slender material, and too little of its text is audible, though Nicholas Sharratt as the playboy manages to get his points across. With Louise Poole and Hakan Vramsmo as the grieving couple, The Departure is more controlled, both dramatically and musically, and conductor Dominic Wheeler gets more substance to work with, too. But Independent Opera's obvious largesse could have been spent more wisely than on this well-meaning but ultimately misguided venture.

· Further performances tonight and Saturday. Box office: 0844 412 4300.