Cinderella cast as a male and female in new Scottish Ballet production

The traditional love story gets a modern update in ‘exhilarating’ production with audiences unsure whether a male or female will go to the ball until the curtain goes up.

It’s the classic fairy tale where the lowly girl is swept off her feet by a dashing prince and gets to wear the dress, even if it is for one night only.

But now, the traditional story of Cinderella is being retold this winter season by Scottish Ballet when Cinderella is sometimes a man – and a sophisticated woman allows his dreams to come true.

The production of Cinders! is set to have an added twist given audiences will be unaware if Cinderella is male or female until the curtain goes up.

Bethany Kingsley-Garner (right) and Jerome Anthony Barnes (left) on the set of Scottish Ballet's Cinders campaign - but which one will be invited to the ball? PIC: Scottish Ballet/ Mihaela Bodlovic

Christopher Hampson, artistic director and CEO of Scottish Ballet, said the dual approach in Cinders! meant “double the work, double the fun” with the updated storytelling opening up new choreography, new possibilities and new technical challenges.

Mr Hampson said: “Today’s audiences expect more from us and that is the exciting bit – what does more look like with this story?”

From Matthew Bourne’s all-male Swan Lake to next year’s West End production of The Picture of Dorian Gray performed by Sarah Snook, breaking with tradition in theatres is a tradition in itself.

“Often in fairy tales something is revealed to female characters that they don’t yet know, where as male characters are on a quest to achieve something. So actually having this male character on the cusp of something they don’t know, they don’t know that they yet need in their lives, I find quite exhilarating,” Mr Hampson added.

Asked if there was a risk in reworking the traditional story, he said: “I don’t think there is a risk. When I look at it, a Cinderella story needs to have magic, transformation and somebody’s dreams coming true and so all of that is going to happen, just sometimes it will happen to Cinders and her prince and sometimes it will happen to Cinders and his princess.

"Everything that makes Cinders a magical story is all still there, so for me the risk isn’t there. I guess, if there is any risk, it is an exciting one, it is ‘what story will the audience see?’

He described creating the choreography for both a male and female cinders as a “very complex” task with the emotions of the modern story also influenced by physical and technical considerations.

Mr Hampson said: “Some of the choreography can be the same but what I have noticed some of it physically can’t be because a female Cinders is on point, on her toes and a male Cinders isn’t.

“Choreographically, I want it to do different things. For a male Cinders, it is quite unusual to show this vulnerability and sense of yearning in a male role. The emotional drive brings out a different choreography.”

He added the floor pattern for the soloists – whether male or female – had to remain the same for the sake of the spotlight operator.

Meanwhile, nothing will be lost in the moment of the big reveal of Cinderella’s transformation, with costumes for both the male and female soloist equally as “magical”.

Cinders! by Scottish Ballet will tour Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Inverness and Newcastle from December to Feb 2024