Last Updated on May 6, 2026
A Welcome Return by the All-Male Ballet Comedy Company
4.0 out of 5.0 starsEvery time Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, affectionately known as The Trocks, descend on London – size 11 pointe shoes, hairy armpits, beefy shoulders, terribly wigs and all – we realise how much we’ve missed them. The all-male comedy ballet troupe from New York has carved a place in the hearts of UK ballet goers with its performances en travesti, offering an irrepressible sense of fun, witty observation of the foibles of much-loved classics, great comedic timing and remarkable technique. They may all be comedians, but boy, these men can dance! And not for the first time during their opening performance at Sadler’s Wells, I found myself thinking, “eat your heart out,… (fill in the name of a famous ballerina or two)”.
The Trocks’ current visit to Sadler’s Wells, after an absence of four years, is short compared with previous residencies at the Peacock (now out of commission for much-needed repairs), and is part of an extensive UK and Ireland tour, marking the company’s 50th anniversary.
Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo brings a mixed bill with some of their greatest hits, none greater perhaps than Dying Swan, performed by the incomparable Olga Supphozova and company veteran Robert Carter. Danced to the plaintive strains of Saint-Saëns cello music, this is not the usual ethereal swan gracefully bourreeing towards its end, but rather a cantankerous, arthritic old bird meeting its end with little grace, while moulting profusely.
What makes this short piece so fascinating is that Carter is an extraordinary dancer, his undulating arms as fluid as wings, so that for a moment he evokes the spirit of the Pavlova original before the comedy takes over. It’s finely judged, very clever and very amusing. And even the curtain call has its own extended choreography…
Carter appears with his male monicker, Yuri Smirnov (all 14 Trocks have both male and female stage names), as the evil sorcerer Von Rothbart, in Act II of Swan Lake, which opens the programme.
Here the budding romance between a strapping, but exceedingly dim Prince Siegfried, Aref Legupski (Andrea Fabbri) and the wilful Swan Queen, Odette, danced by Colette Adae (Jake Speakman) is constantly interrupted by a hyperactive Benno, Jaques d’Aniels (Antonio Lopez) intent on hunting a bird or two.
The yearning Romantic gestures and profuse mime of Petipa’s choreography lend themselves to subtle and not-so-subtle distortion for comic effect, and you sit there holding your breath in anticipation of what they will subvert next, even while performing the choreography with tremendous aplomb. Particularly amusing is the Four Cygnets sequence, where four awfully mismatched dancers attempt miracles of coordination with varying degrees of success.
The famous Le Corsaire pas de deux, though played for laughs, is very close to the virtuoso original, with Mikhail Mudkin (Raydel Caceres) and Maya Thickenthighya (Peter Gwiazda) acquitting themselves well of the demanding choreography.
The one new piece, Metal Garden, didn’t quite work, even if The Trocks were able to mine the comical potential of a jazzy contemporary piece, created by the idiosyncratic Irish choreographer Sean Curran as a whimsical, but not necessarily comical, work.
The finale, though, was all you could hope for and more! A suite from Paquita, it offered the dancers of Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo the opportunity to really show their mettle, and to the last man/ballerina, they rose to the occasion.
The ensemble was beautifully drilled, and the gags and pratfalls were underplayed, but all the more effective for it. One dancer sported large glasses, but not much was made of it. She just did. As the leading ballerina, the petite Varvara Laptopova (Takaomi Yoshino) delivered herself of the most thrilling set of 32 fouettés I have ever seen – and I mean that! The sheer speed, definition and assuredness of it was simply mind-blowing, and it was in keeping with her entire barn-storming performance. As her Cavalier, Mikhail Mudkin (fresh from his turn in Le Corsaire) could only humbly obey her commands.
In short, The Trocks served up their usual fare with the customary verve and sense of fun. Their show was a much-needed antidote to the prevailing mood of our times.
Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo is at Sadler’s Wells 5 & 6 May
Touring until 24 June. All info and tickets here
Sadler’s Wells Angel
Rosebery Avenue
London EC1R 4TN
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