The Trocks, or Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, is an all-male classical ballet troupe. What makes them different is that they dance women’s roles, in women’s clothing and style, en pointe: men in tutus and white tights, but with broad hairy chests and muscular arms.

Their show is part serious ballet, part physical comedy, part parody – and it works surprisingly well, and is both funny and interesting. At one end of the scale are the simple jokes about ballet divas: rival ballerinas “accidentally” kicking each other on stage, and dancers devoting more effort to flirting with the audience than to dancing. At the other end, exaggerated interpretations of traditional gestures from the female ballet repertoire, and those pasted-on artificial smiles that ballerinas always seem to wear. And under / over all this, there is obviously a constant play with gender roles: male control and leadership vs. female hand-fluttering. Not surprisingly, when a piece calls for a male role, they picked the smallest guys with the least masculine bodies for those roles.

The Trocks are really good dancers – when they want to be. Occasionally their focus leaned too far towards burlesque parody, for my taste, and technique suffered. But when they focused on dancing, their technique was excellent, with crisp movements, accurate poses, well-controlled pirouettes and sharp timing. And since they are men, their dancing is a good bit more forceful and energetic than women’s. At their best, they work a strong illusion: occasionally I forgot that the piece is performed by men in drag, and only to suddenly be reminded of it by a hairy chest.

One of the best pieces was the Dying Swan solo. Again a combination of physical comedy (where the swan literally collapses on stage) and excellent dancing. To top it off, the solo is performed by a man who looks to be well over 50, and his body shows it: skinny legs, knobbly knees and elbows, plus a nose like a hawk.

The audience appreciated the burlesque parody pieces most, which was to be expected, given the venue. The Peacock Theatre generally runs shows that appeal to inexperienced audiences, and prefer the flamboyant and comical to the refined. One has to admire the Trocks for their skill in combining gags on different levels and satisfying all tastes.