Playing at Festival Theatre Edinburgh 6th Jan – 9th Jan 2010

A magical dolls house, an evil governess, and a nutcracker doll who may just be a handsome prince in disguise…

This Christmas Scottish Ballet invites you to go back to the beginning as the Company revives one of its most-talked about productions to date, The Nutcracker; Artistic Director Ashley Page’s fresh take on ETA Hoffmann’s original story, Nutcracker and the King of Mice.

One snowy Christmas Eve, Marie hears the story of a brave young man who saves a princess from a horrible curse, and as she sleeps she is transported into a surreal dream world where she must learn to fend for herself and discover the secret of true love.

“This production of The Nutcracker was the first in a trilogy of Christmas ballets that we have developed since I arrived at Scottish Ballet in 2002,” says Page. “It marked the beginning of a process that would be part of giving the Company a new and particular identity and, along with our repertoire in mixed programmes of more contemporary and neo-classical work, has repositioned us within the wider dance community.

“It was also a real learning curve for me,” continues Page. “Because it was the first time I’d done a full-length ballet, and I was doing it with dancers I’d never choreographed on before. But it brought us all together.”

This delicious new production of The Nutcracker has been revisited for 2009 and delves deep into the darker reaches of Hoffmann’s original tale in a fresh and vivid retelling of the famous Christmas story.

Set during the Weimar Republic in Germany, designs for Scottish Ballet’s The Nutcracker are inspired by the vibrant colours and dream-like creations of the German Expressionist painters of the era. Yet despite striking out with bold new designs and quirky characters, Page and designer Antony McDonald still manage to deliver a Christmas cracker for all ages.

“That was the challenge,” says Page. “Could we create something that was bold and different, but which still gave the traditional ballet audience its Christmas ‘fix’? So we have tutus and glitter and pointe shoes, but sometimes they’re black pointe shoes and the costumes are exotic, fashionable and chic – which gives the production a different kind of kick.”

McDonald continues, “There had to be magic and there is a magical quality in what isn’t now. While we were inspired by the origins of the story set in the forests of Saxony and Bavaria, our world is one draped in 1920s glamour but merged with a magical backdrop of sparkling but bad snowflakes, an army of suffragette styled mice and the eccentric children’s godfather Drosselmeyer dressed in elegant blue feathers by way of the surreal cartoons of expressionist artist Max Ernst.”