Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Matthew Bourne’s Nutcracker! was his first update of a classic ballet.
Created in 1992, before Swan Lake made his name internationally, Bourne’s Nutcracker is a frothy confection, bouncing along with witty references and speedy storytelling. This revival has come up brighter than ever, with strong performances from the whole cast.
Throughout, Bourne and his collaborators give the traditional story a twist. It opens in Dr Dross’s grim Orphanage for Waifs and Strays, designed by Anthony Ward as a stark black and white world, all crooked angles and looming furniture.
The orphans are adults in drab clothes – all individually characterised, with their own friendships and yearnings. They’re forced to watch while Sugar and Fritz, Dr Dross’s ghastly children, are given Christmas presents and treats. The orphans eventually get broken-down toys – including a Nutcracker, which looks like a ventriloquist’s dummy, for the heroine Clara (a warm performance by Hannah Vassallo). When the Nutcracker is broken, twin orphans stage an operation scene, miming putting on gloves and surgical mask before very seriously putting the doll’s arms back on.
The staging is full of clever detail. The snow scene becomes a skating dance, with dancers in snuggly 1940s jumpers. They hold skating poses, and gently flap their skirts to suggest how fast they’re travelling.
After the monochrome orphanage, the second act moves to a stupendously pink Sweetieland. Ward’s designs include a giant cake, with a Busby Berkeley-style number staged on its many pink layers, and lurid candy costumes for the divertissements. The Spanish dancers are now liquorice allsorts; the mirlitons number is danced by marshmallow girls, nodding their heads in wonderful feathered hats.
Tchaikovsky’s music for The Nutcracker puts all the story in the first act, all the dancing in the second. The drama comes naturally to Bourne, with his gift for character comedy. In the past, I’ve found his second act thinner; he’s not a dancey choreographer. At this revival, his company New Adventures give the second act numbers a wonderful sweep and confidence. They swoop through the Waltz of the Flowers, Sweetieland inhabitants licking each other. All the divertissement soloists have fun.
I still struggle with Bourne’s staging of the grand pas de deux. Tchaikovsky’s grandest music is given to Sugar, the heroine’s bitch rival – which just feels wrong, especially since Sugar isn’t humanised by the process. Ashley Shaw is an icy-sweet Sugar, with Chris Trenfield is Dominic North is splendidly sulky as Fritz. This revival opens New Adventures’ 25th anniversary year: they’re in fine shape.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments