Compact and colourful, Robert North's Romeo and Juliet premiered in Glasgow this week. First performed by Geneva Ballet in 1990, it suits the Scottish Ballet, where North has been artistic director since 1999.

Having lived and worked in Verona, North and his collaborator, theatre designer Andrew Storer, have set their version of the love story in a chequerboard land of Tuscan tints and cut out castles. Changing scene like a children's pop-up book, the all-in-one set ingeniously fits in cloisters and street corners, bed, bier and balcony. The whole design is clean-cut and attractive, but its colour chart tidiness strikes a curious bland note over this rollercoaster story of love and revenge.

Paring down the glamour and sophistication of previous ballet versions, North has chosen to refer directly to Shakespeare's play, setting his production among respectable families rather than royal ones. Though this sentiment is honourable and makes literal sense, the move to 15th century Italian suburbia subdues the grand passion. West Side Story took Romeo and Juliet out of a courtly context but lost nothing of the conflict of the two central families. Here, their expression is restricted by a modern off-pointe choreography which sets spins, poses and clasping-to-bosoms efficiently but with a lack of personality.

Guest artist Mia Johansson is a petite Juliet, soft on her feet and light as air. She pairs well with another associate artist, Adam Cooper, best known for his Swan in Matthew Bourne's acclaimed Swan Lake. He is a strong, youthful Romeo who lands well. Passion, however, is held on a leash. The bed chamber duet and Juliet's anguish over having to marry Paris are the two moments when North's choreography comes close to portraying heightened feelings.

Other hot spots, marked by Prokofiev's discordantly dramatic score, skim over the heart of the matter. The deaths of Tybalt and Mercutio (danced with wit by Ersin Aycan), the knight's dance, the masked ball (accompanied by that wonderfully pounding music, ably performed here) are danced with stylised simplicity, designed without depth. The climax is brief. Paris is murdered, Romeo commits suicide by poison and when Juliet awakes in the crypt to find her lover dead, she kills herself swiftly by sword. And it is over. Back to business, catch the train home, with the feeling that something is missing.

Until Saturday. Box office: 0141-332 9000.

***** Unmissable **** Recommended *** Enjoyable ** Mediocre * Terrible