hitting the heights of roman camp

reviewed spartacusfestival theatre, edinburghrun endedhhh swan lake king's theatre, glasgowrun endedhhh As gaudy as a Christmas bauble and about as subtle as Jordan's prime assets, Ballet Grigorovich's Spartacus is nevertheless a hoot of a night out. Pivoting rather oddly around balletic "monologues" by two couples - Spartacus and his lover Phrygia versus Roman commander Crassus and his feisty sex-pot concubine Aegina - this is an unintended (one presumes) triumph of high camp.

Originally created by Yuri Grigorovich of the esteemed Bolshoi, Spartacus was bound to be a shadow of its former self. But, as the evening wears on, it seems clear this is no glamorous old lady gone to seed. This, it would appear, has been a curiously kitsch ballet from its inception.

Grigorovich lays on the chor-eography with a trowel throughout - packing the stage with endless formations of high-kicking centurions, whip-lashing slaves, lusty Roman courtesans and (I kid you not) shimmying shepherdesses dressed like they've wandered off the set of One Million Years BC.

Every style imaginable is here, from the super-arched foot and weeping willow arms of Elena Knyazkova's Phrygia to the stomping sub- chorus-line posturings of the unflagging corps. Grigorovich crams in choreographic ideas as if this were The Last Ballet In The World.

But with all that shimmying there is little room for plot. Grigorovich frames his action with grandeur, the panoramic sets lending a suitably epic feel. But his characterisations are less heroic. Spartacus is a wimp; Crassus has a swagger for a personality; Phrygia is a poor excuse for a love interest; and Aegina is such a total fox you're left wishing she'd bump the lot of them and lead the rebel slaves herself.

It's entertaining, in the same way Liberace's frock coats were entertaining. But you are left yearning for Kirk Douglas's dimpled chin.

Far more chaste and with far fewer surprises up its stiff- starched tutu is Moscow City Ballet's Swan Lake. In a week in which Scotland was unusually overflowing with Russian ballet (Grigorovich also brought their Romeo And Juliet to Edinburgh, while Moscow City introduced their Sleeping Beauty to Glasgow) - this was always going to be a safe bet for box office.

The corps are well drilled in the precision geometry that characterises the "white acts". The principals (particularly Gaukhar Ussina as Odette/Odile) are technically proficient and occasionally delightful.

But this is no more than an average production of one of the world's most famous ballets.

Let's just hope Scotland's theatres can attract the outstanding ones too.

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