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The overture is very tuneful but once the curtain arose I am afraid that I found the rest of the score to be very dreary.

The ballet opens very effectively with the arrival of Princess Caroline Mathilde in what looks like a ship and then becomes a carriage. During the welcoming ceremony the Union Jack is replaced by the Danish flag and the Princess changes from British clothes to Danish ones.

We are then introduced to the mad King in what seems to be a council meeting and the ballet moves forward in a series of scenes that show the King with his “playmate” (as the character was described to us by the lady on the information desk), visiting the local streets and brothels and the (now) Queen starting (and continuing) her relationship with Struensee. There is one scene where they appear as a family with the citizens obviously unhappy with the situation and the ballet ends as Struensee is arrested and taken away and the Queen seems to be sent into exile without her children.

The outline of the story was very easy to follow but I think we must have missed some of the nuances because there is no longer an English synopsis provided in the programme. For example, I was not sure if her son and baby were fathered by the King or Struensee.

Fleming Flindt has provided a very dramatic choreographic vocabulary to portray the mad King and there is an interesting(!) pas de trois for the King, Queen and Playmate. There are some lovely duets for the Queen and Struensee. There are also some crowd scenes and a formal masked ball.

On Tuesday night Thomas Lund gave an incredibly powerful and compelling performance as the King. His slightest movement had meaning and added to the portrayal – he was totally magnificent. Gudrun Bojesen was a delightful Caroline Mathilde and Mads Blangstrup an elegant Struensee.

On Wednesday night we saw Morton Eggert, Izabela Sokolowska and Andrew Bowman. Thomas Lund is a hard act to follow but Morton Eggert gave a terrific performance as the King. Izabela Sokolowska and Andrew Bowman were more overtly dramatic than their colleagues the previous evening. I especially liked her apprehension as she arrived in Denmark and her obvious distaste of the King’s playmate (an excellent performance from Kristoffer Sakurai) during the pas de trois. The “calming” influence that the physician and the Playmate have on the King is more obvious with this cast and there is a real passion in the duets for the Queen and Struensee.

The sets are simple and effective and the costumes are delicious.