The late Christopher Gable's version of Carmen for Northern Ballet Theatre (of which he was artistic director) is set in present-day Rio with Merimee's bullfighter transformed into a bleached-blond rock star. Unlike the feminist heroine of the flamenco Carmen brought to the Dublin Theatre Festival last October, Gable's Carmen is unscrupulous and selfish, but Charlotte Broom's brilliant performance held the audience, as did Daniel de Andrade's fine Jose.

Dutch choreographer Didy Veldman devised inventive movement for her barefoot cigarette factory girls and her policemen, gangsters and tourists in their boots and trainers. The constraints of working to music as well known as Bizet's opera, although specially arranged by John Longstaff, apparently forced her to stretch sequences longer than their content warranted; she might have been happier working to contemporary music.

The sound was also rather thin, as scored for the reduced orchestra (conducted by John Pryce-Jones), while the heavy metal beat and electric guitar for Escamillo's scenes would have astonished the composer.

Lez Brotherston's design made clever use of mesh to represent both factory exterior and police cell, while the television set in the bar on which Carmen insisted on watching her rock star's concert also served to screen a video covering her escape from the police.

There were some delightful touches: smuggling cigarette cartons under the feet of the police, the gangsters' mobile phones and Carmen's friends teasing her by miming the awful possibilities of a strong relationship. But, despite good performances, the work did not excite me as much as the innovative Swan Lake which the same company brought to Belfast previously.

Carmen continues at the Grand Opera House until April 17th.