The Newcomer: Charlie Stone reviews the English National Ballet’s The Nutcracker

It was with some anxiety that I walked into the theatre to watch a ballet for the first time. I simply didn’t know what to expect: how was a production – The Nutcracker, appropriate to this time of year – going to arrest my attention for the full two and a half hours, if there were no words? No enlightening declarations, no great speeches, no sharp shows of wit?

The ballet, I discovered, is something entirely different – and entirely rewarding. It is a feast for the eyes and for the ears. While the plot (which varies across different productions of The Nutcracker) was at times ambiguous and at times seemingly non-existent – all that really happens is that a young girl, Clara, receives a nutcracker as a Christmas present and proceeds to have a strange dream about its becoming a real person and fighting some sort of giant rat, only to wake up and realise it was all a dream. The style of the ballet was fabulous. The dancing, the music, and the chemistry between the dancers were such that as an audience we rather forgot about the story and just admired the great technical skills and quite amazing movements of the cast.

“The ballet, I discovered, is something entirely different – and entirely rewarding. It is a feast for the eyes and for the ears.”

The audience was clearly affected by such a spectacle: behind me a young girl was so enthusiastic that she provided a running commentary on the action for all those around her, and even attempted to sing along to the (wordless) music. Still, that managed not to divert my attention from the production too much, and the highlight for me was the variety of international dancers performing for the audience in the second half. We encountered Spain (or perhaps Italy, as the girl behind me decisively asserted when the dancers came in wearing red and yellow), Arabia, China and Russia leaping across the stage and synchronising almost perfectly in their fluid, complex and quite jovial movements that kept me rapt with attention. The best in my eyes were the Russians, who, aside from seeming like they were having the most fun out of the four groups, managed to provide a laugh, too, as two of their troupe danced in incredibly large and quite rigid costumes.

Indeed, humour was the last thing I expected in what an outsider may assume is a serious performance, but it provided some nice interludes to an overall focused show of dancing. Whether it was the ice skaters falling over outside Clara’s house or the old woman attempting to prance about with the slightly more agile youths, these moments allowed us as an audience to take a little breath of relaxation, because the multiplicity of the action on stage, especially at the points when there were over 20 dancers to watch, kept us concentrating throughout.

Ultimately, I came out glad that I’d finally been to see a ballet. A wonderful experience for both the new and the experienced, there’s really nothing quite like it. So much is happening throughout that it’s very hard to get bored, and very easy to gaze at the amazing dancing on show with utter admiration. I’m sure I’m not in a minority for never having experienced a ballet before this. I ticked it off my bucket list; you should add it to yours.

The Expert: Benedict Welch reviews the Royal Ballet’s The Nutcracker

For ballet companies around the world, Christmas doesn’t come in the shape of a holiday; it comes in the shape of a Nutcracker, and boy, does Peter Wright’s production with the Royal Ballet have some shape.

Often heralded as one of the best Nutcrackers around, Wright’s ballet is dazzling. It’s packed like a Christmas present: filled with magic tricks and illusions, a giant Christmas tree, and dance styles and cast members aplenty. The Royal Opera House stage bursts to the brim with talent, and while the narrative is a little hazy, the dancing is exceptional.

Based on E.T.A Hoffmann’s tale The Nutcracker and The Mouse King, The Nutcracker sees the curtain rise on Drosselmeyer (played by Gary Avis), a magician, illusionist and toy maker, readying himself to leave his workshop for a party. We learn that his nephew, Hans-Peter (Alexander Campbell) has been transformed into a nutcracker doll by the Mouse Queen. To break the curse, Hans-Peter must kill the Mouse King, and a young girl must fall in love with him, despite his toy-like appearance.  At the party, Drosselmeyer gives the nutcracker doll to the hosts’ daughter, Clara (Francesca Hayward). Once the party is over and the guests have left the house, Clara comes downstairs to find her nutcracker toy. Instead, she finds Drosselmeyer, who transports Clara to his magical realm, in which a battle between toy soldiers and the mice rages. This ends with the death of the Mouse King, killed by Clara; the two prerequisites for the curse to break are satisfied and the nutcracker becomes Hans-Peter. Freed from the spell, the remainder of the ballet is a tour through the magical land of Drosselmeyer, which reaches its climax in the Kingdom of Sweets with the Sugar Plum Fairy and Prince (Lauren Cuthbertson and Federico Bonelli). 

Much of the narrative occurs in the first half – perhaps a little too much. It does feel slightly long, even if the tricks and illusions are impressive and the cast stunningly well-rehearsed. In contrast, the second act is almost entirely dancing, and it showcases the company at its best. There are some impressive national dances: a group of six scintillatingly proud Spanish dancers, a slow and regal Arabian quartet and Chinese and Russian duos that made my thighs ache from watching. The highlights of the act, however, were the Rose Fairy (Yuhui Choe) and the Sugar Plum Fairy and Prince. Choe is wonderfully quick, darting and dashing across the stage only to linger in an arabesque. Meanwhile, Cuthbertson and Bonelli’s pas de deux was outstanding, their partnership solid and reliable, while also daring, teasing and bringing out the best of each other. 

Another solid partnership on display was Hayward and Campbell. Hayward rose up the rankings of the company dramatically and at the end of last year was promoted to Principal at the age of 23: it’s easy to see why. Capturing the teenage Clara with self-deprecatingly adolescent charm, Hayward has an effortless style. I was at the Live Cinema Screening of the event and, although in recorded interviews during rehearsals she seemed slightly reserved, on stage she truly comes to life. Campbell’s stocky strength is impressive, too, his leaps brilliantly high and his partnering steady.

“When the Royal Opera House is doing such wonderful work bringing dance to so many hundreds and thousands of people across the world, it is a shame that the event was held back by its presenters.”

Elsewhere, partnering didn’t quite seem so smooth. Darcey Bussell and Gethin Jones presented the Live Cinema relay and, while the former’s name and knowledge is appreciated, her presenting skills do need some improvement.  I understand her nerves – the screening was live in 940 cinemas in 27 countries – but I found that the dancing felt too much like respite from presenter camera asides. In contrast, I thought Jones a little too confident and the balance between the two was slightly jarring. When the Royal Opera House is doing such wonderful work bringing dance to so many hundreds and thousands of people across the world, it is a shame that the event was held back by its presenters.

But it is the dancing that came out tops and, aided by a beautifully played Tchaikovsky score, Christmas well and truly did come in the form of a Nutcracker