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Having first created it for film in 1991, Zhang Yimou also directed the transition of his work to ballet and the fresh eyes on old art has seldom looked so interesting. The cross-art effect is doubled by cross-cultural differences (for us in the West anyway). There is great subtlety and delicacy here in something that appeals to our own sense of theatre in ways that Peking Opera doesn't and never will. It's Chinese for sure but speaks to the world in ways we understand.

The plot, involving a feudal master and his concubines, is as meaningful as any 19th century ballet involving love, power, wronged women and death - or bloody execution in this case. It's as graphic as MacMillan played out in handsome sets that become surprisingly ripped and disfigured as the piece proceeds - physical manifestations of the powerful emotions and terror of a world that existed for some just 80 years ago. The company, so dramatically repressed in their Swan Lake, looked entirely driven by a piece that is their own and far from alien. God help us when they fuse the drama of Lantern to the good choreography their technique demands. Swan Lake might put bums on seats but it is Raise the Red Lantern that is their best calling card.