First look: Scottish Ballet to premiere a festive feature film just before Christmas

Scottish Ballet's festive feature film The Secret Theatre will be unveiled in the run-up to Christmas. Picture: Mihaela Bodlovic

Filming is underway on a brand new fairytale focusing on the adventure of a lifetime for a schoolboy exploring a deserted city centre decides to set foot inside a seemingly-empty theatre.

Much-loved characters from Scottish Ballet’s festive repertoire, including The Snow Queen and the Sugar Plum Fairy from The Nutcracker will be brought back to life, along with acrobats, clowns and ballerinas.

The storyline is aimed at highlighting how much the magic of live theatre is being missed during the pandemic.

All 40 of the company’s dancers will be appearing in the feature film, The Secret Theatre, which is being filmed on the streets of Glasgow and at the Tramway arts centre in the city, as well as at the King's Theatre in Edinburgh. It will premiere online from 21 December.

Christopher Hampson, the company’s artistic director, said: “We always do an extensive tour over the winter and I know that many people rely on dance and ballet at that time of year.

“I felt we needed to offer the whole country a way to share in that this year. We really wanted to make everything we have – our props, our customes, our sets, our musicians – come alive at Christmas time to show everything that is amazing about theatre.

"We’ve been working on The Secret Theatre since July and it’s a huge project.

"It’s been incredibly well planned. Making a film is incredibly complex anyway, especially for a theatrical company such as ours. But as we are working at a time of the pandemic there’s been another layer of challenges on top as well. Safe working practices have been at the forefront of of everything we’ve done to get this production together.

"We’ve had to split our dancers into bubbles and they’ve been living in them for some time now to ensure they’re able to perform in close contact safely. They are wearing face masks all day - the never take them off is when they have to do a take.

"Everyone in the company will be on screen at some point. When you watch it you will feel like you’re watching the entire company, but we’ve been filming it in little groups. We’ve created it like a jigsaw puzzle.”

Scottish Ballet will be making the film available for free on its website but tickets must be booked in advance and audiences will be encouraged to make a donation to support the work of the company, which has been unable to stage live shows since March

Behind the scenes with the Sugar Plum Fairy as filming gets underway on The Secret Theatre. Picture: Drew Forsyth

Mr Hampson added: “Of course, people want to congregate and share an experience and watch something magical at Christmas.

“But at the same time we have to make sure that the performers, crew and musicians are safe. It’s far more complex than just letting audiences in. We’re going to be in a difficult, challenging situation for some time.

“We’re going to work with the Scottish Government and work with the other national companies to pilot schemes and events when we can when it is safe but the meantime we need to keep creating things. We’re not really thinking about any significant live experiences happening until the spring.”

A message from the Editor:

Constance Devernay will play The Snow Queen in The Secret Theatre. Picture: Rimbaud Patron

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