We saw Alexander Ekman’s Midsommarnattsdröm (“A Midsummer Night’s Dream”) at the Royal Opera during its first run, which must have been in 2015 or 2016. Now it’s back, and we saw it again.

From the first time around I remembered the most theatrical parts of it. Entertaining, somewhat pandering, but on the whole not bad. Since then I’ve seen two other pieces choreographed by Ekman (Eskapist and Cacti) and loved both of them, so why not enjoy this one again.

It turned out I’d managed to forget the more interesting parts of the ballet, so I’m glad I didn’t let my recollection of it keep me from giving it another chance.

Act 1 starts with a wild and exuberant… harvest dance, ish. Short but fun.

That is followed by the theatrical part: a parody of a Swedish Midsummer celebration, complete with an anxious hostess, forced cheer, that awkward looking-at-everyone while toasting, too much drinking, etc. I’m not a big fan of story-telling ballet, and I think this part could have been more interesting if it had been taken one step further from normality.

Which the second act definitely did. This is the night after the party, the actual midsummer night’s dream. A dreamscape that approaches magic and nightmare at the same time, where anything can happen. Things grow to absurd proportions, beds hover in the air, people lose their heads. The mood ranges from ethereal to grotesque.

I like beautiful, crazy ballets that keep surprising me.