La Bayadere review: The Royal Opera House’s production of an Indian fantasy is a surrealist spectacle

As the days get shorter and the nights get colder, the thought of hunkering down in luxurious surroundings to watch a ballet becomes ever-more appealing. And there couldn’t be a better contrast to this chilly dark season than La Bayadere. This Indian fantasy is a sumptuous riot of colour, full of imagery of sacred flames and enchanted forests.

There are also sprinkles of Hinduism, Islam and Buddhism in the mix, which may confuse – or even offend – contemporary audiences, but is in keeping with the 19th century’s obsession with Orientalism.

La Bayadere was created by Frenchman Marius Petipa for a Russian company in St Petersburg, though this production is a revival of Natalia Makarova’s production from the 1980s. Once you accept it’s going to be a bit of a cultural muddle, you can start to enjoy the exotic love triangle at the heart of the drama.

Nikiya is La Bayadere, a temple dancer who falls in love with warrior Solor and pledges herself to him evermore by dancing over the sacred fire. All seems well until the High Brahmin is rejected by Nikiya and seeks revenge on Solor.

To complicate things further, Princess Gamzatti believes she’s destined to marry Solor, unaware that he’s already pledged to another. Tragedy and a spot of knife crime follow, with the exaggerated gestures and crude violence making these scenes feel more Albert Square than Palais Garnier.

But the famous Kingdom of the Shades scene follows, in which Solor smokes opium to numb his pain and wanders through a hallucinatory underworld, and it’s a gamechanger. Though the tonal shift is jarring, the journey into the abstract is bewitchingly beautiful, with the entire corps de ballet, dressed in ethereal white, showing their discipline and strength through repeated arabesques.

Once up in the rafters, the production refuses to come down; even Solor’s return to the world of the living is wonderfully disorienting.

It’s an flawed ballet, slightly muddles and with a score that’s serviceable rather than exciting. But this is a stunning production, full of splendour and spectacle.