The English National Ballet is underfunded, says its director. So he puts on a show, the critics be damned. “On our Australian tour of Swan Lake last year, our smallest audience a night was 7,800 and our largest was 11,000 – 11,000 Australians, sporty people, who stood on their feet and roared. When I’m looking at that, I don’t care what anybody says. If the productions were naff, the dancing substandard, the costumes tacky, I’d mind. But this is the highest quality you can find.” – The Sunday Times (London)