THIS was the first time I have seen Snow White as a ballet and the arrangement from Alan Lisk and choreographer Barry McGrath delighted and bewildered in almost equal measure.

A passionate and superbly polished performance by Jodie McKnight as the Queen from curtain up to finale was in danger of unbalancing the whole production, while weak storytelling left an accomplished Rachel Victoria Hernon as Snow White on the verge of being a mere cipher.

Lovely nymph and butterfly corps de ballet scenes were most enjoyable and the dwarves were played superbly for comic effect, but the indecent haste with which Snow White dies and is revived made the pace feel rushed.

The Grand Finale was performed beautifully, but the suspension of disbelief required to accept that the darkly dazzling Queen from the witchcraft scene would be sorrowful and complaisant about the union of her stepdaughter Snow White and the Huntsman at the close was a tall order.

So much so that I gave up and waited for an end which unfortunately seemed a lifetime coming - not helped by the longest sequence of farewell applause signals I have ever encountered. An extremely talented company, unfortunately let down by the overall production.