Devil of a treat at the ballet

WHAT is this that stands before me? Why, it's a man with long hair and a beard, wearing a t-shirt with a skull on it. Which can mean only one thing: Black Sabbath - The Ballet is at Theatre Royal Plymouth.

- William Telford

And so people gathered in their masses to be enthralled by the collision of proto-death metal and plies. Ballet fans appeared to have outnumbered the rockers, unless they'd forsworn the leather jackets and inverted crosses for one night, but whatever attracted them, they were in for a devil of a treat.

On paper, it makes sense for the acclaimed Birmingham Royal Ballet, and its lauded director Carlos Acosta, to set the canon of the city's most beloved musical export to dance. But could it work?

Well, it did. Over three acts the audience was subjected to dazzling dance routines and guitar wizardry, with some orchestral moments amid classic tracks from the band which wrote the rule book for heavy metal and many of its subgenres.