Dance

Cinderella

Theatre Royal, Glasgow

Mary Brennan

FIVE STARS

If Scottish Ballet’s new production of Cinderella looked truly lovely when it opened at Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre last month, it looks utterly ravishing here. A bit of a surprise, actually: the Glasgow stage is a smaller space but it fits Christopher Hampson’s preference for intimate story-telling, and the magical powers of nature, like a glove – but not like a sparkly slipper, because Hampson persuasively tweaks that usual trying-it-on rigmarole. What’s not at all surprising, however, is how the whole production has really melded together during that Edinburgh run. It now glows with the finesse of familiarity: the steps are confidently in place, so there’s room for the whole company – from main characters to cameo spots and ensembles – to colour in the details of Hampson’s mischievous comedy as well as his rose-tinted lyricism.

His casting, too, has come into its own. As the company’s artistic director, Hampson is constantly looking beyond his established principals to the promising talent that’s emerging – on opening night Bethany Kingsley-Garner was Cinderella to Christopher Harrison’s Prince. Mid-week, Sophie Martin – who along with fellow principal Eve Mutso had initially galumphed with gusto as the step-sisters – was a touchingly wistful dreamer who found tender security in the arms of Andrew Peasgood’s Prince. There’s an open, easy grace to Peasgood that glosses over the technical challenges of the role: you see interpretation, not effort. Madeline Squire and Aisling Brangan were hilariously gawky as those hassling-meanie step-sisters while Eve Mutso’s Fairy Godmother, like a breath of perfumed elegance, was the mystical spirit of the rose that is Hampson’s central motif. Mutso leaves the company after this tour – her exquisite performance here is one to cherish.