Hampson's Triumph

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Scottish Ballet The Nutcracker Theatre Royal Newcastle, 6 Feb 2025 19:30

I was so delighted with the first act of Christopher Hampson's production of The Nutcracker that I tweeted in the interval that the company that had brought me my favourite Swan Lake had also created my favourite Nutcracker.  Immediately after I had clicked the "post" button I reflected on my rashness as I had only seen half of the ballet.  I need not have worried because the second act was every bit as good as the first. 

Scottish Ballet already had a fine version of The Nutcracker that had been created by its founder Peter Darrell in 1972.  I saw it in Edinburgh just over 10 years ago and reviewed it in Like Meeting an Old Friend After So Many Years on 4 Jan 2015.  Hampson seems to have retained the best bits of Darrell's version such as Brotherston's designs while inserting a few innovations like casting Drosselmeyer as a woman.  At this point, I might explain that there is a difference between an innovation which adds a new dimension to a ballet and a gimmick which is simply change for change's sake.  In this production, a female Drosselmeyer brought extra magic and mystery and even a hint of menace to the role possibly because of humankind's inherent fear of witches.

According to the programme notes several of the dancers added to Hampson's choreography.  One of those contributors was Sophie Laplane who has created some unforgettable work for Ballet Black.  Her dialogue between patient and therapist in Click illustrates succinctly the difference between coincidence and causation so absent in contemporary transatlantic political discourse.  She contributed to the Russian divertissement presenting the dancers as playful and slightly chaotic wearing candy cane costumes rather than as slightly sinister Cossacks.  Other contributors were Javier Androu to the Spanish dance, Jessica Fyfe to the French (itself an innovation) and Nicholas Shesmith to the English dance which I think was another innovation.  Their contributions added to the freshness and the exuberance of the second act.

For some reason or other the Arabian dance was dropped from Act II though I think I recognized the music in Act I if my memory is not playing tricks on me. In other productions, it is one of my favourite divertissements.  It is not a long dance and I would love to have seen what Hampson and Co would have made of it.

Turning to last night's show, the Snow Queen was danced by the excellent Marge Hendrick who reminds me so much of the late and great Elaine McDonald.  Hendrick's performance at Northern Ballet's 50th Anniversary Celebration Gala was the high point of that evening for me.   Her performance at that gala moistened my eyes then and her dancing did so again yesterday.  

The other great female role in the traditional Nutcracker is Sugar Plum who is sometimes danced by Clara or Marie in some productions.  It was performed exquisitely by soloist Gina Scott.  

Evan Loudon, another of my favourites, was the gallant Nutcracker.  

I was awed by Madeleine Squire's magic as Madame Drosselmeyer.  She is a magnificent character dancer and I look forward to seeing her in other roles.  

Ava Morrison was a delightful Clara and a realistic one in that she was not all goody-goody unlike her counterpart in other productions, She was as much responsible for damaging the nutcracker as Jamie Drummond, her brother Fritz.  

 My one "bravo" of the evening was directed at Thomas Edwards after some amazing fouettés and sautés.  

I also enjoyed Ishan Mahabir-Stokes's performance as King Rat.   

All danced well in this performance and all deserve congratulations.  Northumbrians are not known for wearing their hearts on their sleeves and the standing ovation that the cast received attests to the excellence of last night's performance.  

The company will remain in Newcastle until tomorrow.   This is the last stop of its Scottish and Newcastle tour,   if you can lay your hands on one of the very scarce remaining tickets for the last few shows you will not be disappointed,

Scottish Ballet's Cinders!

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Scottish Ballet Cinders Theatre Royal Newcastle, 10 Feb 2024, 14:30

Christopher Hampson created a beautiful version of Cinderella for the Royal New Zealand Ballet in 2007 which he successfully transplanted to Scotland.  It was a profound and sensitive study of grief and recovery which I loved (see Scottish Ballet's Cinderella of 20 Dec 2015 and Hampson's Cinderella: Coming Up Roses 5 Feb 2019).  When I heard that Hampson had created a gender-reversal version of the ballet called Cinders bmy heart sank ecause I hate change for change's sake.  That's why I was less than enthusiastic about David Nixon's Swan Lake, Akram Khan's Giselle or even my beloved Scottish Ballet's Coppelia.

But sometimes a reworking of a well-known and well-loved ballet succeeds spectacularly.  David Dawson's Swan Lake is a case in point and Ted Brandsen's Coppelia is another.  I am relieved to say that Hampson has carried it off brilliantly with Cinders!.  I have to temper my enthusiasm with the caveat that I have only seen the version in which Cinders is danced by a woman, but I have sufficient confidence in Hampson's genius to look forward to the other version of his ballet when it is next on tour. 

On the train back to Huddersfield I reflected that Scottish Ballet has always innovated. It began with Mods and Rockers '63 to the Beatles' music in 1963.  As Scotland's classical dance company, Scottish Ballet might have been expected to include La Sylphide which is set in the Highlands into their repertoire.  And so they do in a sense though they locate it in the gents' loo of a Glasgow community centre rather than a castle and call it  (see Scottish Ballet's "Highland Fling" in Gurn and Effie Land 2 May 2018).  The company's founder, Peter Darrell is said to have inspired Sir Matthew Bourne who created Highland Fling.  Cinders! follows that tradition and I have no doubt that Darrell would have approved of Hampson's creation.

The synopsis of Cinders! is very different from that of Cinderella.  Gone are the Fairy Godmother, mice, the pumpkin coach, dressmaker, cobbler and dancing master.  There is no wicked stepmother as such because Cinderes's father dies in a fire but there is a new owner of her father's business called Mrs Thorne who performs a similar role.  She also has two unlikeable daughters called Morag and Flossie and a son called Tarquin.  The relationship between Cinders and Mrs Thorne is not clear but it is one of subordination. The prince has two friends who are dukes, one of whom takes a shine to one of Mrs Thorne's daughters and the other to Tarquin.

The simplification of the story has made way for some spectacular choreography.  Particularly impressive were two duets between Cinders danced by Gina Scott and the Prince danced by Evan Loudon.  One takes place at the ball and the other after they eventually find each other.  In both of those duets, there are spectacular fish dives.  I first noticed Loudon when he danced the Prologue in Emergence with Sophie Martin (see Scottish Ballet - Emergence and Mc14/22 11 June 2017).  Scott, however, was new to me and when I posted a comment about her performance on Facebook I learned that both she and I have studied with the same teacher.  That teacher remarked that Scott had some special magic I knew exactly what she teacher must have meant.  Scott must have shown remarkable promise as a student.   The reason I had not noticed  Scott before is that she joined the company only last year.   I shall certainly follow her career with interest in the future.

Other dancers who impressed me were Grace Horler who danced Mrs Thorne and Thomas Edwards who danced her son, Tarquin.  I had been a fan of Horler since 2017 when I saw her in Hansel and Gretel (see Hansel and Gretel in Newcastle - a bit like falling in love 4 Feb 2017).  I first noticed Edwards for his performance as Dr Coppelius.  I should add that everybody in the show danced  well and all deserve commendation.

This company had commissioned new sets and costumes from the young Welsh designer Elin Steele. She graduated from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama only in 2018 and has already acquired an impressive portfolio.   Her costume for Cinders's entrance to the ball was dazzling.  Cinders was clad entirely in white.  She shed her veil to reveal a skirt in the colours of the prince's uniform.   The sets for the shop, ball and rose garden were ingenious and intricate.  The last scene with its Christmas tree uplifted the dancers and audience. 

I should mention Hayley Egan's video designs.  Her simulated newspaper headlines about the fire, survival of Cinders and Mrs Thorne's purchase of the haberdashery shop launched the story.  Her projections marked each change of scene,   

Credit is also due to Lawrie McLennan for his atmospheric lighting.

Cinders!  should be danced alongside Cinderella much in the way that the English National Ballet retains both Mary Skeaming; 's Giselle as well as Akram Khan's.  Both Cinders! and Cinderella have merit and each helps audiences to understand and appreciate the other.

Hampson's Masterpiece: The Snow Queen

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Scottish Ballet The Snow Queen Theatre Royal, Glasgow, 11 Jan 2020

I have been following the company now known as Scottish Ballet for nearly 60 years. The first ballet of theirs I can remember is Peter Darrell's Mods and Rockers which was quite unlike any ballet that I had ever seen before. It has staged some great works since such as Darrell's version of The Nutcracker, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa A Streetcar Named Desire, Christopher Hampson's Cinderella and David Dawson's Swan Lake. However, as I tweeted immediately after seeing the show, The Snow Queen is its creator's best work yet and one of the company's best ever,

@HampsonChris, great to run into you at @GlasgowKings yesterday. Congratulations to you, the cast, creatives and all at @scottishballet on #SBSnowQueen. I think this is your best work yet and one of the company's finest ever. Already a fan of Wraith, Loudon, Horler & now Addison.

— Terpsichore (@jelterps) January 12, 2020

The ballet is based loosely on Hans Christian Andersen's tale. Hampson inserts a prologue to explain the Snow Queen's meanness. That is permissible just as the spurning of her stepsister's flowers in Christopher Wheeldon's Cinderella is permissible to explain the girls' dislike of Cinderella.   The score is an arrangement of Rimsky Korsakov by Richard Honner. The designs which were breathtaking were created by Lez Brotherson. A work by Brotherson, Hampson and Honner could hardly fail and I had high hopes for it but it exceeded my expectations greatly.

Hampson's libretto creates three big female roles as well as some interesting supporting ones.  There is the Snow Queen herself who features strongly at the start and end.  Her sister is the Summer Princess.  While the siblings live together, all is harmony but when the Summer Princess sets off to explore the world the personality of the Snow Queen changes.  She becomes disorientated, resentful and vindictive.  Her sister disguises herself and calls herself Lexi as she scours the world for Kai.  Her rival for his affection is Gerda.  Kai is the lead male role but there are also solo roles for the men such as the ringmaster, strong man, clowns and bandit leader as well as bandits and townsfolk for male members of the corps. 

The Snow Queen was danced by guest artist, Katlyn Addison, a first soloist with the American Ballet West which is based in Salt Lake City, Utah and not to be confused with the school and company of the same name at Taynuilt in Argyll.  The Summer Princess or Lexi was danced by Grace Horler. and Gerda by Araminta Wraith.  Horler and Wraith I had seen before and were already favourites of mine. Particularly Wraith who had impressed me in character roles such as Cinderella's stepmother and Hansel and Gretel's mum as well as for her classical technique in what I think must have been The Nutcracker not too long after she had joined the company.  This was the first time I had seen Addison and I sincerely hope it will not be the last.  I have made a mental note to include Salt Lake City in my itinerary for a future holiday in America. 

Kai was danced by Evan Loudon who first impressed me in the Emergence and MC 14/22 double bill at Sadler's Wells in 2017.  Kai is a complex character combining the most attractive masculine attributes with the most infuriating.  An accomplished dance actor, Loudon discharged that role with flair.  Other dancers I noted immediately after the performance include Nicolas Shoesmith who was the ringmaster and Rimbaud Patron as the bandit leader.  All danced well and all are to be congratulated.   So, too, are the orchestra and their conductor Jean-Claude Picard. 

 The Scots have an onomatopoeic adjective for miserable weather - dreich.  The evening of 11 Jan was as dreich a night in Glasgow as ever there could be.  The thunderous applause from an audience that had already been drenched to the skin and chilled to the bone says it all.

Scottish Ballet to revive Dawson's Swan Lake

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One of the most remarkable performances that I have attended was David Dawson's Swan Lake at Liverpool Empire on 3 June 2016.  My review of that show has turned out to be my most popular post attracting nearly 47,000 hits, over 10 times more than my next most popular article.  The reason I love this work so much is that it is innovative and original but still recognizably Swan Lake (see the synopsis). 

I am therefore delighted to announce that Scottish Ballet has announced that this beautiful ballet is to be revived (see Swan Lake The Classic retold for new Generation on Scottish Ballet's website). The work will open at the Festival Theatre in Edinburgh on 9 April 2020 and stay there until 11 April. It will then visit Aberdeen, Inverness and Glasgow finishing at the Theatre Royal on 2 May 2020 (see the Places, Dates and Times page).

The dancers expected to take part in the show include Aisling Brangan, Barnaby Rook Bishop, Claire Souet, Evan Loudon and Thomas Edwards.

This is one of the best productions of Swan Lake that I have ever seen and in Scottish Ballet's brilliant repertoire this work shines brightest.