I'VE always been wary of swans since one reared up and bit my young daughter on the head. Matthew Bourne's visually stunning remodelling of the classic ballet Swan Lake did nothing to dispel my views of the aggressive nature of the bird.

The story of Swan Lake is steeped in Russian mythology. The ballet emerged at the end of the 19th century accompanied by Tchaikovsky's haunting score.

It told the tragic love-story of a prince and Odette, queen of the swans, and it became the staple of ballet schools everywhere, performed by various corps de ballet in cute white tutus and pointe shoes.

That was until 1995 when maverick director and choreographer Matthew Bourne shook the world of dance by re-writing the story and replacing the girlie corps with a menacing male ensemble.

Bourne's Swan Lake returned in triumph to Milton Keynes Theatre this week, rightly deserving its effusive applause and standing ovation on opening night.

In the last 14 years the production has garnered 30 international awards and rightly so. This isn't ballet as we know it, it is contemporary dance at its finest and most provocative.

Without a doubt its latest success is derived from the overwhelmingly powerful performance of Richard Winsor as The Swan.

It's a role he shares with the company's other leading dancer Jonathan Ollivier and I wonder whether the two men debate their pecking order in this thuggish and surly flock of swans.

Winsor goes from strength to strength. His leading role in Edward Scissorhands was unforgettable and highly emotional (eat your heart out Johnny Depp).

This amazingly talented dancer last appeared at MKT in the highly erotic Dorian Gray and he has brought a lot of that character's rampant sexuality to the part of a dominant swan that is cursed with a voracious appetite for both men and women.

His dance is seductive and alluring and I can understand how both Bourne's glacial and aloof Queen (Nina Goldman) and her weak and submissive son (Dominic North) submit to his charms.

The story is straight out of the pages of Hello and pulls no punches in lampooning pretty much any royal family that's dogged by scandal and still struggling to survive in this modern age.

The Prince, a mummy's boy if ever there was one, falls for a totally inappropriate girl (doesn't that sound familiar?) before, during an act of desperation and despair, he meets and is bewitched by a creature even more unsuitable.

There's a lot of Romeo and Juliet to this sad tale of truly star-crossed lovers and, it must be said, a measure of unease at the sexual implications, but this is mythology and magic where anything goes.

Lez Brotherston's gorgeous costumes are spectacular, ranging from the Queen's 1950s Dior-inspired waist-pinchers (so jealous!) to the primarily monochrome costumes of the ensemble and the shaggy-pile leggings of the swans.

His also worked his magic in designing the larger-than-life set and if ever there was a match made in heaven it has to be this brilliant working partnership between designer and choreographer.

Goldman made for an unforgettable queen, her crown slipping when seduced by The Swan's bad-boy human form while North's duets with Winsor were compelling.

The final act was mesmerising and so emotionally-charged that I was both tearful and exhausted by the close.

It is a magnificent production only marred by not being accompanied by a live orchestra. To have heard Tchaikovsky's music with a full orchestra in the pit would have made this truly unforgettable.

Swan Lake runs until Saturday (February 6). For tickets and information contact the box office 0844 8717652 or go online www.ambassadortickets.com/miltonkeynes