A capacity audience at Newcastle Theatre Royal was transported back in time to the gambling dens and court of Tsarist Russia by Opera North’s lavish production of Tchaikovsky’s Queen of Spades. A full-blooded story of risk-taking, love, avarice and self-destruction, at its heart is military engineer Herman, who will stop at nothing to get the diabolical secret of how to win at cards from the from the Countess. Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts amply filled Herman’s boots, coming across more as a lovable rogue in a dynamic performance. Lisa (Orla Boyland) is engaged to Prince Yeletsky (William Dazeley), but Herman has his eyes on her and ultimately the prized secret of her grandmother. The second act opened with a magnificent masked ball; no expenses spared on costumes. The anthem to Catherine the Great was hurled out with gusto by the Chorus. Dame Josephine Barstow put in a towering performance of the Countess, bringing all her experience to bear on a hypnotic rendition of an aria from Gretry’s Richard Couer-de-lion. Softly sung, it tailed off to a haunting whisper in what was one of the highlights of the evening. Herman, who is finally given the secret of three cards from the Countess’ ghost, heads straight for the betting tables and the tragic denouement. Mention has to go to William Dazely’s cuckolded Prince Yeletsky and Jonathan Summers’ Tomsky. Sung in English, with cut-glass diction, Neil Bartlett’s production was one of Opera North’s largest undertakings. And if it could ever be said to be a gamble, it was one that paid endless dividends.