Nutcracker!

Published Thursday 20 December 2007 at 16:40 by Lyndsey Winship

Predictable annual Nutcrackers can be a bore, but this one is a delicious treat and it’s camp as Christmas.

Choreographer Matthew Bourne - he of the all-male Swan Lake - doesn’t mind meddling with the classics so he’s shifted his story to a spartan orphanage where Clara, played by Kerry Biggin, and her fellow waifs and strays are put-upon by the cartoonish baddie Dr Dross. When the nutcracker doll Clara is given comes to life, we head off into a Technicolor land of fancy, and Bourne and designer Anthony Ward really let loose.

From the dancing snowflake scene, which has turned into an ice skating escapade, to the delectable confection of Sweetieland, the stage is filled with swooning girls and topless boys, feathers and fluff, hearts and flowers, pink, pink and more pink. It’s like a Pierre et Gilles photograph come to life.

Bourne’s bold characters are matched by Ward’s inventive costumes as liquorice allsorts and marshmallow girls and a dangerous Mr Knickerbocker Glory parade through the Willy Wonka-esque wonderland.

But for all the childish delight, there are adult undertones. Clara’s first dance with her fantasy man, played by Alan Vincent, really stirs up those feelings of first infatuation and sexual awakening. Their pas de deux is suitably dreamy, she floats and flies through the air swept up by his strong arms, only to be crushed by loneliness and jealousy when she loses her dream man to a prettier girl.

The company throw themselves into energetic ensemble dances and they’re acting full tilt every second of the show, swept along by spirited playing of Tchaikovsky’s score by the specially assembled orchestra.

Great fun, this tasty Nutcracker will leave you with a skip in your step and a night of sweet dreams.