Dance review: Scottish Ballet – Cinders, Theatre Royal, Glasgow

Scottish Ballet: Cinders, Theatre Royal, Glasgow ****

For a company steeped in history, Scottish Ballet is remarkably forward looking. In recent years, both on stage and digitally, it has challenged expectations and stereotypes, provoking interesting and sometimes challenging conversations. The casting of Cinders is perhaps their most daring decision to date, because as any ballet company knows, you don’t mess with your Christmas show – it’s how you balance the books.

In reality, though, this new incarnation of Cinderella is entirely audience-friendly. You won’t know until the curtain goes up whether the central character will be male or female, but this uncertainty does nothing to diminish the glamour and sparkle. If anything, it adds to the emotional depth of the storytelling, because regardless of your gender, feeling left out is hard.

Bruno Micchiardi as Cinders and Jessica Fyfe as Princess Louise PIC: Andy Ross

So we find ourselves in an old-fashioned outfitters, run by the delightful Rose family – mum, dad and (depending on which night you attend) their son or daughter. A tragedy leads to the child being orphaned and, some years later, the business is taken over by the frightful Thornes. Gone, mercifully, is the notion of the “ugly sisters” – instead we have a mother and three children who are ungainly, unkind and dressed in garish colours that stick out like a sore thumb in the royal palace. Despite their bullying, our hero/heroine still makes it to the swankiest ball in town, turns the head of the beautiful princess/prince and leaves at midnight sans shoe.

Elin Steele’s set and costume design is stylish yet welcoming, adding swish and sway to Christopher Hampson’s already sumptuous choreography. On the night of this review, Bruno Micchiardi played Cinders and guest principal Jessica Fyfe danced the role of Princess Louise. Their solos and pas de deux as beautiful as anything the traditional fairytale could offer, but with the added bonus of watching a woman save a man.