The Bolshoi’s production of The Bright Stream has been described as one of the funniest ballets ever seen on stage. During a harvest festival on a collective farm in the Russian steppes, a dance troupe arrives from Moscow to entertain the workers, causing all manner of hilarious trouble when they interact formally and informally with the locals. With a sparkling and witty score by the great Dmitri Shostakovitch, The Bright Stream is a rich comedy of errors full of mistaken identities, hilarious deceptions and happy resolutions.

Viewed as an over-the top mocking parody of the collective farms of Stalinist Russia, The Bright Stream landed its creators in enormous trouble with Stalin’s regime shortly after its hugely successful opening, and was not performed again until its triumphant revival at the Bolshoi in 2003.