THE 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death is being marked in myriad ways. One such response is Birmingham Royal Ballet's triple Bill bill, each part linked to the Bard.

On their return to York Theatre Royal for the first time since 2013 – BRB played the Grand Opera House last year during the Theatre Royal's redevelopment – they found a new stage in place, the rake gone, the flat surface so much better suited to the demands of dance.

The Shakespeare triptych opened with a new work by American choreographer Jessica Lang entitled Wink, so named from a line lifted from one of the five Shakespeare sonnets read by Alfie Jones, to which Lang and in turn the troupe of ten dancers responded.

Here truly was poetry in motion, to the accompaniment of Jakub Ciupinski's emotive music: beautiful movement, classical yet modern too, inspired by language on the theme of love and loss.

The second piece was a trio of much loved pas de deux, the first excerpt on the theme of Reconciliation from The Dream; Karla Doorbar's Titania and Chi Cao's Oberon back on good terms to the gliding, joyful choreography of Frederick Ashton and Mendelssohn's music.

Kenneth MacMillan's choreography to Prokofiev's score for the balcony scene from Romeo And Juliet captured their rush of love in the enraptured dancing of Céline Gittens and Tyrone Singleton before the fisticuffs, fury and fiery fun of John Cranko's choreography to Scarlatti's music for The Taming Of The Shrew. Here it was staged by Jane Bourne with a delightful playfulness and bags of humour as Elisha Willis's Katherina and Iain Mackay's Petruchio brought the house down.

Fury of a darker nature spread through the closing piece, the intense heat of José Limon's 1949 choreography for The Moor's Pavane to Henry Purcell's music turned up even higher in Jennifer Scanlon's reconstruction for BRB.

Turning Othello into a one-act tragedy with the omnipresent incriminating handkerchief to the fore, the passion and jealousy burst through this psychological and physically raging drama, enacted so devastatingly by Brandon Lawrence's Othello, Yvette Knight's Desdemona, Iain Mackay's Iago and Yijing Zhang's Emilia.

Birmingham Royal Ballet's visits to York are a thing of wonder and delight. Roll on their return.

Birmingham Royal Ballet's triple bill at York Theatre Royal can be seen at 7.30pm tonight. To check ticket availabilty, phone 01904 623568.