She’s back, as bossy, eccentric and risible as ever. The passing of time has not dimmed her belief that she is the most prima of all prima donnas. She is Mongolia’s pick as the greatest living soprano of all time. She is the Cynthia of the title: Cynthia Fortitude, dotty standard-bearer for opera in far-flung corners of the world and New Zealand, and an old habitue of the Wellington stage.

Tonight, Cynthia attends a meeting of the Island Bay Operatic Guild to introduce the locals to the delights of her favourite musical genre. She is diverted onto the topic of an opera she and her musical partner Gertie Rallentando are creating. From there, we’re transported to the bizarre world of Il Meraviglioso Pappataci di Aotearoa – this being the opera’s title, which I won’t translate here because it’s a joke in waiting.

A generous host, Cynthia freely shares the events, characters and emotional nuances of her life. She is given to bursting into song, which may be anywhere between canonical opera and the broadest of pastiche. She is also a musical director out of the strict schoolmistress school, who doesn’t just ask for audience participation, she demands it.