CINEMAS across Cumbria will get a glimpse of The Royal Opera House with a worldwide screening of Madama Butterfly.

The production of the Puccini classic on Thursday March 30 will be shown live at venues in Ambleside, Barrow, Carlisle, Kendal, Keswick and Penrith at 7.15pm, among many others across the globe.

The inspiration for many Hollywood films and the West End smash-hit Miss Saigon, this world famous opera follows a young Japanese geisha, Cio-Cio-San, who clings to the belief that her arrangement with an American naval officer, Lieutenant B.F. Pinkerton, is a loving and permanent marriage.

In a clash of cultures, hope turns to despair as Cio-Cio-San realises that she has been betrayed, prompting fatal consequences.

Giacomo Puccini was entranced by David Belasco’s play Madame Butterfly when he saw it in London in 1900. He harnessed the talents of librettists Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa to adapt Cio-Cio-San’s tragic tale for the operatic stage.

Madama Butterfly quickly became a hugely popular opera with performers and audiences alike, and remains one of Puccini’s most performed works.

Puccini drew on Japanese folk melodies for the score, one of his most evocative and atmospheric.

The romantic exoticism of 19th century European images of Japan – an integral part of Madama Butterfly’s character – inspire Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier’s elegant production for The Royal Opera.

The Alhambra cinemas in Keswick and Penrith, Kendal's Brewery Arts Centre, the Rheged Centre, Vue cinemas in Barrow and Carlisle, and Zeffirellis in Ambleside, will all be treated to the performance as it is relayed live from Covent Garden.

Madama Butterfly screens at 7.15pm on Thursday March 30, and tickets are available from the respective cinemas.