Act I Scene I.

Trulove says of his daughter Anne "So he be honest, she may take a poor husband if she chooses, but I am resolved she shall never marry a lazy one".  But her prospective lover Tom Rakewell (the Rake) is not interested in work and wishes he had money.  Nick (old Nick, the devil) appears and offers his help.  Tom says he has no money to pay him, but Nick says "A year and a day hence, we will settle our account, and then, I promise you, you shall  pay me no more and no less than what you yourself acknowledge to be just".  The trap is set and Nick says to the audience "The Progress of a Raje begins!",

Act I Scene III.

Act II Scenes I and III.

Act II Scene II.

Act III Scene I.

Russell was invited to direct Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress at the prestigious Maggio Musicale festival in Florence in 1982.  Russell says "Auden, one of the librettists, gave me a clue via an old programme note in which he stated that he both he and the composer considered their simple talk of moral decay to be a timeless one. Accordingly, my designer, Derek Jarman, and I updated it to Thatcher's Britain"

Gösta Winbergh plays Tom Rakewell (the rake) and Cecelia Gasidia plays Anne Truelove. Nick, the devil, is played by Istvan Gati.  Tom, with walkman, is gradually seduced by Nick with material wealth, and his progress leads to his suicide in the London underground, in the Angel tube station.

Act III Scene II.

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Russell and conductor Riccardo Chailly.

Images of the production from Il Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, I Grandi Specttacoli.