THIS cunningly updated Nutcracker – choreographed by Ashley Page, designed by Antony McDonald and premiered in 2003 – was the beginning of an era that saw Scottish Ballet find its feet again.
Out went any hint of sugary-sweet dancing bon-bons, out went the 19th-century period style that made Hoffmann's original into a Dickens of a tale. In their stead, Page and McDonald conjured the heyday of the Weimar Republic – the Stahlbaums's Christmas party is a frisky-risque affair – and retrieved the dark menace of the Hard Nut story that underpins Drosselmeyer's gift of the Nutcracker Doll to Marie.
On opening night, Marie was danced by Sophie Martin who also made her Scottish Ballet debut in 2003, and is now a principal with the company. And if she still offers a Marie who is a solemn, rather intense little girl – wonderfully determined, mind, to hold onto her present – she is now outstanding as the glitteringly poised ballerina who, in dancing the celebrated Act II pas-de-deux with her Prince, is ready to be an adult.
This pas-de-deux (which we associate with the Sugar Plum Fairy) was the only remnant of Petipa's choreography retained by Page. Martin is superb, as is Adam Blyde whose litheness, lightness and musicality are a joy.
Tama Barry's Drosselmeyes has a degree of swagger that nicely opposes the smouldering attack of Diana Loosmore's slinkily wicked Mouserink. And if injury has led to a stressful juggling of casts, with extra demands being placed on new young recruits, there's no falling away of energy or character. Page has, of course, now left the company. Marie and her Prince are on the cusp of a new era.
HHHH
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article