Reviewing David Bintley’s Cinderella two weeks ago, I said it was a darker telling of the tale than most. But it is nowhere near as dark as Matthew Bourne’s version, set in London during the Blitz of 1940. In addition to being a serious story, it is dark also in that it takes place mainly at night, or in a tube station, or in the soon-to-be-bombed Café de Paris, haunt of servicemen on leave and wartime glitterati. The dancers there, briefly forgetting their troubles and unaware of the tragedy about to befall them, bring lighter moments.

Cinderella is played by one of Bourne’s most regular and most talented collaborators, Kerry Biggin, in another touching performance. This Cinders is definitely treated as a second-rater by her step-family, but only to a believable level. She is nicely though dowdily dressed, in a grey jumper and skirt, and wears glasses that actually look good on her. Her stepmother is the ever-glamorous Michela Meazza, and besides two daughters, she has provided three stepbrothers, one of whom doltishly admires Cinders. Her father, Neil Westmoreland, is in a wheelchair, and more-or-less comatose until the final scene. The war, we understand, has done this. But it has also provided Harry the Pilot, played by another Bourne regular, Sam Archer, the original Edward Scissorhands. He is quite a catch in his snazzy uniform and toothbrush moustache. In place of a fairy godmother we have The Angel, impressively danced by Christopher Marney. This is a major role, and he is given some of the best of Bourne’s choreography, dancing to great effect in a shiny white suit and a snowy wig.

Lez Brotherston’s sets, with their backdrop of bombed buildings or ruined nightclubs, give the whole piece a moody, doomed atmosphere, in the midst of which a couple find happiness. Matthew Bourne’s Cinderella is at Sadlers Wells until January 23 (box office: 0871 789 1004/ www.sadlerswells.com). It will be at Milton Keynes Theatre for a week from February 22, and at Oxford’s New Theatre from May 10.