Always a great fan of Vaughan Williams’s magnificent score for Job and hugely respectful of De Valois’ early original ballet, I visited Madam herself to ask for her permission and blessing for a new version for San Francisco Ballet. Her one stipulation, the same one that the composer had given her, was that there should be no ‘toe dancing’ in it! I acquiesced, for the most part, with only one character, Pestilence, en pointe.

I set this American version during the Great Depression, an idea that translated extremely well in the main, and was fortunate to have a terrific cast. I didn’t quite solve the massed ‘Sons of Heaven’ scenes, but I’d love to take the best of it and bring it back home.