It is not hard to see what lies behind the choice for the main opera production of the Lawrence Batley Theatre’s autumn season.

Opera has long been good box office at the theatre and this year should prove no exception.

For the LBT is hosting Mid Wales Opera with a comic chamber opera by Benjamin Britten.

It couldn’t be better timing. This year sees the centenary of the birth of Britten, one of the most significant figures in 20th century British classical music.

Celebrations are everywhere and Mid Wales Opera is paying its respect with this production of Albert Herring.

The company are welcome visitors to Huddersfield, regularly playing here to packed houses.

Last year it was Mozart’s Don Giovanni and before that, the company brought us a  hugely successful production of Puccini’s Madam Butterfly

This Britten opera offers something very different. It was written in the winter of 1946 and the following spring.

 Albert Herring is based on a short story by the French writer Guy de Maupassant.

It was transposed to an English setting with a libretto by Eric Crozier.

With Britten’s masterly music, the result was a classic, comic depiction of village life.

It is seen as one of Britten’s most irreverent gems and has a cast full of recognisable characters, including the village bobby, the local vicar and the landed gentry.

At its heart is the sleepy village of Loxford where the process is underway to choose a May Queen.

But when none of the village girls fits the bill, all eyes turn to the possibility of having a May King. And that’s Albert.

Albert, from the greengrocer’s, is as pure and innocent as it’s possible to become. Surely the perfect candidate to be the village’s first May King?

But poor Albert is slipped a little something into his victory glass of lemonade and suddenly things take a turn for the worse.

Albert decides to take his prize money to town to explore for him himself the pleasures life has denied him so far. But how will his sudden disappearance go down in the village?

Plenty of comic opportunities then for the Mid Wales Opera company.

It arrives at the LBT on Saturday September 14 (7.30pm) in this co-production with Opera Theatre Company.

 Mid Wales Opera has been producing high quality opera since 1988 and this award-winning company is now seen as one of the country’s leading touring opera companies.

In a year when events are taking place throughout the UK to mark the centenary of Benjamin Britten’s birth, Mid Wales Opera has partnered with Opera Theatre Company to take Albert Herring on tour.

The singers will be accompanied by the Mid Wales Opera Chamber Orchestra conducted by the company’s artistic director Nicholas Cleobury.

He has worked for the first time on this  production with the director Michael Barker-Caven whose production of I Pagliacci at the Cork Everyman has just been nominated for Best Opera Production 2012 in the Irish Time Theatre Awards.

And if all of that were enough incentive to enjoy a top quality comic opera then how about the bonus of a Behind The Scenes Session with Mid Wales?

This session will run at the LBT on the day before the opera itself, that’s Friday, September 13.

It will be held on the theatre’s main stage and offers an introductory workshop all about opera and celebrating Britten’s centenary year.

There will be a chance to explore the creative process, meet artists and respond to the work you'll see on the stage.

The session runs from 2.30pm- 5.00pm and tickets are free though it is best to book.

Tickets for the Saturday performance on 01484 430528 or online at www.thelbt.org .