Theatre review: Scottish Ballet

Published on Sunday 13 December 2009 18:46

SCOTTISH BALLET – THE NUTCRACKER **** THEATRE ROYAL, GLASGOW

FROM the moment the curtain rises on Scottish Ballet's Christmas extravaganza, you realise that this show is as much about design as it is dance. In fact, for the first ten minutes, there is barely any dancing at all. Instead, we are led inside the Stahlbaum family home and introduced to the key characters as they prepare for their festive gathering.

It's an opportunity for the performers to prove their mettle as actors, not just dancers, which they ably do. Similarly, it's a chance for choreographer Ashley Page and designer Antony McDonald to set out their stall.

For although the basics were still there – a young girl's coming of age, a nutcracker doll that springs to life – there is so much more to this version of the eternally popular ballet.

Page and McDonald have drawn their synopsis from E T A Hoffman's cracking but complex yarn from the 19th century. As such, not everything the two men have ploughed into this intelligent show will achieve audience awareness, including images of giant sausages, big-headed babies and a Freudian subtext.

None of this matters a jot, however, when you simply sit back and enjoy the moments of sheer balletic beauty.

The tutu-clad snowflakes and pretty poppy flowers deliver pointe work to die for, while the grand pas-de-deux between principal dancers Claire Robertson and Erik Cavallari is a spell-binding blend of romance and masterful technique.