In Handel's day, a popular Tamerlane play was read as an allegory of recent political events, with the victorious Tartar emperor Tamerlane representing Protestant British monarch William III, and the defeated Ottoman sultan Bajazet his French Catholic rival Louis XIV. In John La Bouchardière's production for Scottish Opera,this idea is turned on its head as Bajazet becomes Richard the Lionheart and Tamerlane his captor Saladin.

The set appears to be the antiquities hall of the British Museum, perhaps to suggest the universality of the opera's themes played out across history. This idea is reinforced by the updating of the final act to the present day, when the museum is a looted shell and countertenor Max Emanuel Cencic's Tamerlane a gun-toting, hoodie-wearing warlord.

Whatever the effect of this abrupt transformation, the final act is thankfully free of attempts to inject humour into what is a rather sombre work. Earlier visual gags and an outraged princess- in-disguise Irene played for laughs by Jennifer Johnston as a modern-day fortune hunter seem ill-advised. So, too, does the decision to run the first two (shortened) acts together, which, even with conductor Christian Curnyn's relentless driving of the pace, makes for a very long first half. Ditching some of lovelorn Andronico's arias would have been a good start; there was rather too much of his exceedingly wet presence, despite some expressive singing from countertenor William Purefoy.

Tamerlano is an opera conspicuously lacking in hits, though it has enough drama to compensate, particularly in the final act. Here Curnyn allowed the Scottish Opera orchestra to blossom, while tenor Tom Randle as Bajazet ranted and raved with more presence than any else, though Gail Pearson as his daughter Asteria gave a heartfelt performance.

· In rep until November 18. Box office: 0141-332 9000. Then touring.