THE Russian State Ballet of Siberia, accompanied by The Russian State Ballet Orchestra, will perform three of the very best ballets at The Anvil – Swan Lake on Monday, 25 February, La Fille mal gardée on Tuesday, 26 February, and The Nutcracker on Wednesday, 27 February.

Swan Lake is one of the greatest romantic ballets of all time, brought to life by Tchaikovsky’s haunting and unforgettable score. From the impressive splendour of the palace ballroom to the moon-lit lake where swans glide in perfect formation, this compelling tale of tragic romance has it all. The dual role of Odette/Odile is one of ballet’s most unmissable technical challenges.

La Fille mal gardée remains one of the oldest ballets still regularly performed. A gentle tale of love thwarted, unrequited and found, and a masterpiece of comedy. With plenty of ribbons, romance and rivalry, La Fille mal gardée conjures up a world of pastoral simplicity where a farm boy woos a flirty farmer’s daughter and they find inventive ways to avoid her mother.

The Nutcracker is the most famous of fantasy ballets and begins on Christmas Eve. As snowflakes fall outside, the warm glow of the open fire sends flickering shadows across the boughs of the Christmas tree and all the presents beneath. When midnight strikes, the audience is swept away to a fairytale world where toy dolls spring to life, the Mouse-king and his mouse-army battle with the Nutcracker Prince, and travel through the Land of Snow to an enchanted place where the magic really begins.

The Russian State Ballet of Siberia has established itself as one of Russia’s leading ballet companies and has built an international reputation for delivering performances of outstanding quality and unusual depth. The soloists and corps de ballet are superb, and never fail to delight audiences with their breath-taking physical ability and dazzling costumes.

LipService, who have been creating original comedies from a distinctly female perspective since 1985, go off the rails in Strangers on a Train Set at The Haymarket on Wednesday, 27 February.

Challenging a youth to turn down his music, Irene Sparrow, inventor of the left-handed crochet hook, finds herself under suspicion of murder after the train emerges from a tunnel with the young man dead.

But this is no ordinary train. Each passenger is reading a book, each book is a portal into a parallel universe of train-related crime fiction.

With clever use of projection and multiple train sets, Maggie Fox and Sue Ryding, aka LipService, give you a whistle-stop tour that will leave you breathless and racing for the refreshment coach.

For details of all the shows now on sale visit anvilarts.org.uk or call the Anvil Arts box office on 01256 844244.