The Nutcracker is the kind of show that teaches children what Christmas is all about — presents. Jealous Freddie fights with Clara over her Nutcracker doll, while Clara is so enamoured with her present that she dreams a semi-sexual fantasy about it.
Despite this being a tale of children’s imagination, ENB’s current Nutcracker, made by the company’s then director Wayne Eagling in 2010, is actually a rather grown-up interpretation of the Christmas ballet, with its demure tone and muted colour palette.
Eagling embraces The Nutcracker’s uneven structure to create four different ballets in succession: the restraint of the Edwardian drawing room; a children’s toy box come to life; some colourful national dances and an abstract Classical ballet. It’s a slow, slightly gloomy start but it’s enlivened by the arrival of a gang of raggedy rats to battle the Nutcracker. On the night I went, James Streeter played the Mouse King with brilliantly chaotic energy.
There’s a rotating cast throughout the run, with dancers ranging from lead principal Tamara Rojo to junior soloist Katja Khaniukova getting a shot at playing Clara and a number of international guests filling the male lead. On opening night, new recruit Alejandro Virelles from Cuba danced with the superlative Alina Cojocaru. It’s not yet a solid partnership and Virelles might well have been starstruck by Cojocaru, who’s on a different level to anything else happening on stage. She’s a stand-out star but overall this Nutcracker lacks excitement.
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