This company has been seen a lot here. Sometimes it has been great, sometimes disappointing, as was Tuesday night’s performance.

I have written a lot in the past about the lapses of logic that rather derail the story, but in a nutshell: Von Rothbart appears, unusually, in Act 1, and lures Siegfried to the lakeside. Why then does he immediately try to chase him away when he gets there? Siegfried has not been given a crossbow, so why did he go? At the end, the lovers do not die together in the lake. The programme tells us that Siegfried, in an act of self-sacrifice, carries Von Rothbart into the waters, and they drown together, leaving Odette grieving on the shore. (In the event there was not enough dry ice, so that we clearly saw Von Rothbart and Siegfried running off into the wings, rather than plunging to their mutual deaths).

An inadvertent squawk on a clarinet during the opening bars of the overture heralded a lacklustre production that was to some extent saved by the two principals. Natalia Bobrova looked lovely and vulnerable as Odette, with soft, fluid movement that did justice to the Ivanov choreography in the iconic moments. Elsewhere, and throughout the work, much was replaced by mundane efforts from director Sergei Bobrov. Somewhat short on emotional impact as Odette, Bobrov mutated successfully into the sexy Odile of Act 3.

Nikolai Chevychelov as Siegfried was the other half of this unusually good-looking pair. He is a fine dancer and quite a good actor, but he exuded such an air of self-satisfaction that it was hard to imagine he would have any time for a swan queen or anyone else. However, to be fair, he was pretty good.

This is a very pared-down version of the great classic, with Act 1 opening straight away with the waltz, and in Act 3 the national dances are upon us as soon as the curtain has risen, giving no time for setting the mood of the scene.

The most enjoyable moment of the performance came from Tatyana Gavrilova, who was a delight in the exuberant Neapolitan Dance.