You simply must see Swan Lake

9:24am Friday 22nd February 2008

NAO Sakuma and Chi Cao were made for these parts, and if you want to see the logical successors to Nureyev and Fonteyn then you simply must go and see this Birmingham Royal Ballet production of the Tchaikovsky classic.

Nao and Chi are arguably the company's hottest properties, effortlessly filling the yawning void created when the great Robert Parker packed his tights away and donned a pilot's blazer.

This Swan Lake is an absolute monster, a celebration of style and taste that leaves you gasping for more.

The piece flits effortlessly from dreamy woodland paradise to sumptuous court scenes, where the Russian influence is most pronounced. The courtiers are a strange mix of Cossack officers enjoying a night out and swarthy inquisitors who would not look out of place in the Spanish Torquemada.

Nevertheless, the lovers do not have the stage entirely to themselves - Kosuke Yamamoto as Benno and the evergreen Marion Tait playing the Queen Mother lend authority to a piece that has now become a BRB staple.

Swan Lake has become the stuff of legends and is therefore highly commended. It runs until Saturday, February 23.

JOHN PHILLPOTT

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