In a fantastical time, among the lakes and forests of an imaginary northern Europe, a handsome prince meets the beautiful Odette. But she has been bewitched by an evil magician and spends her days as a swan, only coming back to human form at night. The prince swears undying devotion, but falls for a trick when the sorcerer magics his daughter Odille into a dead ringer
for Odette. In the end. love triumphs over evil, the prince gets the girl, now a full-time human, and the bad guy gets his come-uppance.
A likely story. But 21st century audiences in Durban can't get enough of it.


The St Petersburg Ballet Theatre's touring production of Swan Lake was initially booked for eight performances in the Playhouse Opera. So many people wanted tickets that an extra three shows had to be fitted in – last Wednesday and next Monday and Thursday. A few tickets are left for Monday and Thursday, hut don't expect them to hang around for long.


This means there are a lot of people heading for the over 1 300 seats of the Opera, wanting to spend a pricey evening at what some would grumble about as an outdated. Eurocentric, elitist art form. But eat your heart out Robbie Williams - selling out in Durban is easier than you think. It is electric entertainment.


Swan Lake is the show with it all – the lushest romantic music from a live orchestra: glamour, glitz, tragedy and overwhelming beauty: a thrilling prima ballerina in Irina Kolesnikova who on Thursday danced Odette as a heartbreaking, tragic figure and Odille as a knowing vamp, and a superb back up cast and corps de ballet. With this company, the nutty fairytale makes perfect sense. They are supremely professional, exciting and filled with a youthful energy that saw them party on until after 3 am on Friday morning to celebrate Kolesnikova's birthday.


It's hard to believe that their breathtaking world of castles, lakes, icy forests and gilded, vaulted ballrooms is all cloth and can be packed away in boxes in a few hours. Every culture has its tales and myths and the magic of Swan Lake in the hands of the St Petersburg Ballet Theatre and the KZNPO is that for a few short hours this one becomes universal. The company does the smoke and mirrors of sheer theatre to perfection.