Ballet's towering classic is a perennial crowd-puller, and in the expert hands of the Royal Ballet you can see why. Anthony Dowell's 1987 production is more Russian and more Romantic than most, and Yolanda Sonnabend's gilded and slightly gothic designs give it the 'wow' factor.

A little about me. well I work in the city as an Executive Assistant for a VC firm who raise money for spin out companies from universities. A...