The Winter’s Tale – a tragicomedy written late in Shakespeare’s career – has only ever been intermittently popular with theatre companies, never enjoying the same fame as his Macbeths and Hamlets. This makes the decision to turn the play into a full-length ballet an interesting one, especially in the absence of the Bard’s illuminating text. But a closer inspection of the storyline – marked by jealousy, remorse, passion and ruin on the grandest scale – reveals exactly what inspired choreographer Christopher Wheeldon to make his 2014 interpretation of the play on the Royal Ballet. To emphasise these thematic elements and overcome the challenges of ‘dancing’ Shakespeare, Wheeldon has removed some of the secondary characters and their plotlines. But their absence only serves to sharpen the narrative and ultimately intensify the drama. What results is a remarkably theatrical story ballet, superbly danced by one of the finest companies in the world.

The anchor point of the story is Leontes, King of Sicilia, who, suspicious of his pregnant wife’s interactions with his old friend Polixenes, King of Bohemia, is overcome with jealously. Leontes rages and descends into madness, taking down all those close to him. It’s a demanding role and principal Edward...