You have to hand it to Rambert. For this, their 90th anniversary season, the company hasn’t flinched from producing challenging, sometimes esoteric works, including an ambitious reinterpretation of Macbeth on a split stage. As well as Rambert’s young, fabulously athletic dancers, with eye-catching dynamism from Miguel Altunaga, Hannah Rudd and Vanessa Kang in particular, the three pieces tonight were blessed with innovative scores and sets, not to mention some minimalist but extremely stylish costumes . . .

English Touring Opera’s LA CALISTO is blessed with excellent singing in all the major roles, but director Timothy Nelson’s interpretation is too heavily weighted with symbolism. The central theme of this opera is surely an examination of the qualitative differences between carnal desire and spiritual love, but in this production that theme plays second fiddle to the debate between rational thought and spiritual faith.

The scene is a church hall (lovingly recreated in Robert Jones’ detailed set) in which Mavis (Tamzin Outhwaite) an unfulfilled dancer has arranged tap dance lessons for a motley group of women and one, slightly gap-in-the-clouds, man (Dominic Rowan). We’re in Ayckbourn country, without the slightly jaundiced eye, but with hints at suburban angst which is hinted at in tangential references to off-stage events. At the end of the act the group is galvanized by a request for them to perform at a local charity event.

In this adroit stage version of A Room With A View, adapter Simon Reade has given prominence to the sheer fun Forster had in mocking the stifling conventions of upper-middle-class Edwardian society. This is a warm-hearted production, and that warmth is emphasised in designer Paul Wills’ clever use of scenic back projections, soft-focused and full of colour . . . Forster’s sunniest and most optimistic novel, and it is those qualities that shine through in this highly enjoyable production.