Asphodel Meadows/Enigma Variations/Gloria

Outgoing artistic director of the Royal Ballet, Monica Mason, is marking her final season by matching up the choreographers who form the company's heritage (Frederick Ashton and Kenneth MacMillan) with some of the young Brit talents Mason herself has nurtured. This triple bill opens with Liam Scarlett's 'Asphodel Meadows', a quietly assured and musical work that shows the young choreographer has what it takes to continue the company's classical development (as opposed to Wayne McGregor's more daring experiments). That's followed by Ashton's 'Enigma Variations', a period piece that illustrates the characters who inspired Elgar's composition of the same name. Finally, MacMillan's 'Gloria', which like 'Asphodel Meadows' is set to music by Poulenc, is a plotless ballet that evokes the horror and loss of war.