As a curtain-raiser the company performed Michael Corder’s Lyric Suite to Grieg’s music of that name. I had not seen them before, but this confirmed straight away that Ballet Ireland are a well-trained classical group. Ryoko Yagyu in the leading role danced with a sparkling accuracy.

The main event, Cinderella, by the young choreographer Morgann Runacre-Temple, turned out to be a real collector’s item. Set to music by Adolphe Adam (best known for Giselle), it starts with a flashback to the wedding of Cinderella and Prince Charming. Flashback? Yes indeed – this is the story of what happened next, and it shows us that a fairy-tale ending doesn’t necessarily lead to ‘happy ever after’.

Laurie McSherry-Gray is every inch a ‘danseur noble’, but in this zany comedy he has to play the prince as a near alcoholic – I was close enough to see that his favourite tipple is an enviable Chateau Belair Moreil – and this leads to much strife with Cinders, who is clearly no bedazzled pushover. The couple are also broke, and fall upon the idea of selling the pair of glass slippers, which are thought to have magical qualities.

Amy Drew makes an attractive Cinderella, though she is angry most of the time; Keiran Stoneley and Richard Bermange have a lot of fun as the stepsisters, and Jane Magan is a glamorous Fairy Godmother, the elegance of her Russian training plain to see. Curiously, Buttons, played by David Horn, who seems to be Cinderella’s real soul-mate, is the most serious character in this work, always worried about how things will turn out.

But the star of the show is undoubtedly the diminutive Kumiko Nakamura as Footmouse; the Fairy Godmother has turned her into a human, but left her with big ears and a tail. Her extraordinarily expressive face and exuberant physical speed, coupled with a wonderful sense of comedy, remind me of the great comedians of the silent movie era. Almost continually on stage, she steals every scene.