Poet and lyricist Simon Armitage discusses the surprisingly rewarding experience of writing an opera libretto. “It was Craig Raine who said that librettists are to opera what toilets are to theatres. So when someone from the Edinburgh festival asked if I’d be interested in writing the words for a newly commissioned opera, I hesitated. I’ve never thought of what I do as a mere functional necessity and, despite having the surname Armitage, I don’t take kindly to being pissed on. But in the end I couldn’t say no.”