"Necessity, I am told, is the mother of invention," said general director Richard Bradshaw. "What we are putting together instead of the Naples production is something which is very exciting indeed."

The young designer Yannik Lariv_e was enlisted to create the sets, collaborating with lighting designer Bonnie Beecher and director Serge Bennathan. In a press release, the company said that Bennathan, artistic director of the Toronto dance company Dancemakers, "use[s] space and light in marvelous and wonderful ways," suggesting that the new production may include ample amounts of both.

"We have been presented with an extraordinary challenge, and I think we have a stunning solution," Bradshaw said. "It's always good for a company to be pushed in this way and we're fortunate at the COC to have a superb technical and creative team to make all this possible."

Tancredi runs through April 16 at the Hummingbird Centre for the Arts.