IT'S always reassuring to find that the quality and edge of an opening night is sustained throughout subsequent performances.

So far I'd seen three of Scottish Ballet's other castings for Romeo and Juliet in a revival that certainly does full and caring justice to Cranko's work while demonstrating an impressive spectrum of company strengths.

The current production has not only allowed a host of new talent to shine, often for the first time, in leading roles, it has also made wise use of established dancers like Noriko Ohara, Linda Packer, and Robert Hampton all of whom have long and abiding associations with

the piece.

In truth, I was surprised to find Hampton dancing Romeo at all. For several months now he's been working to recover from fairly radical surgery on vertebrae and discs - an arduous, painful process but one which has obviously left him keen to dance more than occasional character roles.

Now there are, among the young bloods, various star-crossed lovers with ostensibly flashier, fizzier technique than Hampton and

Packer but Cranko's ballet isn't just a matter of steps: it's about dramatic interpretation and this is where intelligent maturity comes into its own. Hampton has the confidence to be tender, even shy. When, in the

balcony scene he showers Juliet's little hands with parting kisses, it is a moment so moving, so sincere that you blink hard. Packer, too, can move you

to tears especially

in the ferociously challenging last act where her wide-eyed terror, her sudden stillness and resolve remind you that here is a child embracing

womanhood and death in the

same moment.

Time has given them insights and these are what illuminate the

performances, though both of them are still well in control of every bit of technique.

Vladislov Bubnov proves to be an

intriguingly serious Romeo, ready to join in the japes and larks with his laddish chums - Campbell McKenzie is a very boisterous Errol Flynn buckaroo of a

Mercutio - but touchingly solemn when the full emotional and political impact of his feelings for Juliet sinks in. His thoughtfulness makes absolute sense when one looks at the incredible childlike innocence that the exquisite Tamara Rojo brings to Juliet. She is transparently unworldy. But that said, both her technique and her acting ability ensure that she explores the darker, tragic depths of the character.Valeria Tsoi -who danced Juliet at Edinburgh's Festival Theatre yesterday afternoon - is also an accomplished technician but so

far has still to find her own personality for the girl.

No such problems for her Romeo Ygor Yebra, whose happy-go-lucky flirt is very much the kind of boy parents warn their daughters of Handsome, with a lovely springy athleticism in his dance, he has a pleasing onstage presence that draws the eye, a ready smile that infects his whole performance.

Definitely a name to watch for the future. Sadly we won't be able to watch - or rather listen to -

the company orchestra for much longer: I have never heard such an intense, impassioned reading of Prokofiev's music - it made the hairs on one's neck tingle.

n The production is in Edinburgh until the weekend, before touring to Aberdeen and then south.