CAN a subject matter be so horrific that it is too brutal for ballet, the butterfly of the arts? Is the Holocaust a step too far?

Under the artistic direction of David Nixon, Northern Ballet, the Leeds company with a flair for narrative ballet, have presented the likes of Orwell's 1984, Requiem and Dracula, all within the parameters of mankind's dark side or the shadow of death, but a Nazi concentration camp presents a challenge like none before.

Indeed Northern Ballet are the first company to interpret John Boyne's story in dance, retaining the story arc and finale from York filmmaker Mark Herman's screen version for Miramax in 2008.

Certainly, it is bold, indeed risk-taking, if respectful dance theatre, but Daniel de Andrade's ballet noir finds a way to tell the story to harrowing effect through the power of physicality, not least through the most overtly balletic creation, The Fury (Giuliano Contadini), a menacing representation of the Fuhrer in bird-like form.

Likewise, the blind-faith adherence to the ruthless Nazi creed is conveyed in the metronomic precision of some of de Andrade's innovative choreography, which largely, by necessity, steers clear of the familiar military signals once aped by the comedic John Cleese and Mel Brooks. Dale Rhodes's arrogant Aryan SS lieutenant, Kotler, in particular, is the chilling embodiment of all that so appals.

The heart of the story rests in the friendship across the barbed-wire division of Bruno (Kevin Poeung), the Auschwitz camp commandant's young son, and Shmuel (Ashley Dixon), the Jewish boy in the striped pyjamas of the title, and here Andrade's production is at its most successful. Whereas some of the adult characterisation feels skeletal and crude, the burgeoning relationship between the boys is tenderly and sensitively drawn, presented in delicate moves, at a child's pace, with innocence and curiosity on the one hand countered by the hopelessness of Shmuel's fate on the other.

Gary Yershon's foreboding piano-and-string score is jagged, disturbing, as ugly as any ever put to a ballet: another challenge to Northern Ballet's dancers that they surmount with their sure-footed, rhythmic athleticism. Mark Bailey's set design, grey and black, imposing and relentless, matches that score in its ugliness, just as it should.

Tonight's show and tomorrow's matinee have sold out; only a few seats remain on sale for tomorrow evening, but the newly refurbished Hull New Theatre awaits in October. Don't leave it too late to book.

The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas, Northern Ballet, The Quarry, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds, tonight at 7.30pm and tomorrow, 2pm and 7.30pm; box office, 0113 213 7700 or at wyp.org.uk. Hull New Theatre, October 18 to 21; 01482 300306 or hulltheatres.co.uk