Black Sabbath: The Ballet Black Sabbitch Edinburgh 29 & 30 October 2025

There was definitely a bit of a culture clash in evidence going into the Festival Theatre, Edinburgh for this performance by Carlos Acosta’s Birmingham Royal Ballet. As far as I could see, I was the only one in the foyer in full rocker gear, with a timely annual appearance for my Helloween 30th Anniversary Tour t-shirt paired with an Avantasia hoodie, although I did see a couple of Sabbath T’s and at least one Motorhead shirt in the cheap seats. Other than that, I would say it was largely a dance crowd. Sample overheard posh-voice conversations included; “can you even name one Black Sabbath song?” and “will the chaps from Black Sabbath actually be dancing in this?” FFS!

When the curtain rose for Act 1, the first ‘piece’ was ‘War Pigs,’ which started with the well-known vocal incantation and then morphed into an orchestral version as a soundtrack for an ensemble performance of around twenty dancers, all kitted out in conventional ballet gear – no tutus, but both male and female performers were in dark leotards and tights which enhanced their superbly supple, strong and athletic bodies – so a rather more fetching sight than Biff and Saxon with their socks-in-spandex look performing ‘Wheels of Steel’ on Top of the Pops back in the day! Definitely a very impressive start.

This was my second dose of Sabbath music in consecutive nights. The previous evening, I went to see another twist on some classic Sabbath songs by Californian all-female tribute band Black Sabbitch at the Mash House. Both performances started with ‘War pigs’, but that was the only song that both acts had in common and both stuck firmly to Ozzy-era material, so poor wee Ronnie James Dio didn’t get a look in. The Sabbitch girls were very impressive. Definitely a lot less choreographed, but they put on a great show in front of a rather more authentic audience of crusty rockers and young stoners, with a few Halloween nuns and ghouls.

Back at the ballet, the stage was rather less cluttered for the 2nd piece, which was ‘Iron Man’, an entirely instrumental interpretation, but this time with an on-stage guitarist, who didn’t actually dance but was very mobile and at times was carried around. At first, I assumed he must be synching, but on closer inspection, he was actually playing, and quite impressive it was too and he looked the part as well. It turned out he is a London-based singer and guitarist called Marc Hayward, who has played with some Sex Pistols in The Professionals and also Miguel Montalban & The Southern Vultures.

Things took a romantic turn with a passionate two-dancer performance to a toned-down and slowed-up love interlude on the ‘Iron Man’ theme, with the performers locked in an extended embrace / kiss in a quite remarkable, sensual and erotic performance, still accompanied by the guitarist. The passion reminded me somewhat of the last time I had seen a “rock ballet” in this theatre, which was a 1990s performance of ‘Billboards’ by the Joffrey Ballet company from Chicago, set to the music of Prince, which, as you might expect if the wee purple perv is involved, was more overtly sexual at times.

Act 1 concluded with a more straight-forward, guitar-based and rocking version of ‘Paranoid’, which was as heavy as it got in the theatre and the only time I got a bit of a rhythmic nod on. Ironically, we had been denied hearing ‘Paranoid’ the night before due to the Black Sabbitch set over-running and the crowd being turfed out to make way for a disco, which nearly caused a reprise of the infamous late-70s ‘Disco Demolition’ night at a Chicago White Sox baseball game which saw the field get trashed as fans burnt a pile of disco records.

The Sabbitch girls’ set changes nightly and they have a very good selection of Ozzy-era classics in the rotation, including my own personal favourite ‘Symptom of the Universe’ which got a rare airing and certainly made my night, alongside other un-danceable faves like ‘N.I.B’, ‘Children of the Grave’ and ‘Snowblind’.

By contrast, the ballet featured some rather obscure numbers, including ‘Solitude’, ‘Orchid’ and ‘Planet Caravan’, each of which seems more at home in an orchestral ballet situation than they do on a Sabbath ‘greatest hits’ package.

Act 2 of the ballet featured a great deal of spoken word segments from the band themselves, including the story of Tony’s fingertips and the origins of the band, all of which would be familiar tales for perennial readers of rock magazines. All four original members were featured and, needless to say, bloody Sharon got in there as well.

The recognisable songs in Act 2 were truncated versions of ‘Black Sabbath’ and ‘Sabbath Bloody Sabbath’. I thought the former might have been a bit more of a set-piece, given its theatrical Hammer Horror themes, but I was also glad that I remembered not to blurt out “you bastards” at the appropriate moment in the latter.

I would have to say that the dancing throughout was exceptional and it was thrilling to see these skilled and graceful performers in action close up, especially with lights turned right up for the start of Act 3. For sure, this was a million times better than Pan’s People dancing to ‘Fireball’ on Top of the Pops or any of the amateur crap that you get in “Rock Week” on ‘Strictly Scum Dancing’ on a Saturday night.

The music in the final act was largely a reprise of Act 1, but this time with the performers wearing a variety of Sabbath t-shirts, although none of them seemed to be authentic original tour shirts, unsurprisingly, although it did not feel like cultural appropriation or sneering at the rock community. As with the cheesy “juke box musicals”, it finished with the big number, which could only be ‘Paranoid’ again, and it all wrapped up with an extended ovation.

I would have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the ballet performance and was very into it. At a push, I would say that musically, I enjoyed the straight-forward amplified rock sounds of Black Sabbitch better, but overall, the ballet was unmissable, very impressive entertainment indeed and some of the dances will live with me for a long time – a truly unforgettable spectacle that any rocker with an open mind should enjoy.

Bravo.