Antonella De Rosa
A modern and fun remake signed by Matthew Bourne breaks the chain of the
dark orphanage with a magical world where colourful costumes, fluorescent
shades and strong lights opens up the imagination of Clara, the protagonist, in
the first place, and of the audience, in the second one. Narrative elements of
the traditional version are kept but also twisted with the typical sense of
comedy, subtle irony and camp settings which remain constants in Bourne’s
creation.
Throughout his Nutcracker, music, lights and costumes work together to foster
an hilarious dream. The music dictates everything, even the lighting; the
traditional essence of the sound is captured but reproposed from a new and
highly personal perspective, where a strong pop soul perfectly communicates
with the classical one of the past and with the uncertainty of the present,
shaped by ruling imagination which can be fully recognised as the real
protagonist of this charming Nutcracker. The choreography itself evokes
carefreeness, the freedom of the imagination passing through the various
dances: the Russian, the Spanish one and the famous waltz of snowflakes
It is interesting to notice how the Russian Dance, fully white in the traditional
version against a neutral background of a fairy castle, undergoes a vulgar turn
with the three helmeted dancers whose choreography seems to resemble a
sort of contemporary disco dance. Fluorescent costumes perfectly adapts to
the background where a big door is framed by large and bright red lips. The
three men flex muscles, fights and twerk. Masculine goes hand in hand with a
provocatory sensuality able to entertain, surprise but also suggesting a
broader reflection around the real meaning of masculine-feminine categories.
This same critical reverse can be noticed throughout the whole production: the
traditional Spanish dance, for example, is based on the centrality of the men
while the two Spanish women (dressed with typical and predictable customs)
wait for him to dance, in turn, with them. Bourne’s rewriting of the scene
revolves around this colourful trio (one woman, two men) engaged in a winking
game made of looks and tongues- recalling maybe some cruising practice. As
spectators, we are in someway attracted by the game performed on the stage.
Not by change, Clara’s look is itself highly participatory: her eyes and gestures
reveal a slight envy of who would like to be part of the play. She succeed,
dancing with them, even tough remaining, at the end of the day, a participant
observer, as we all are or, allowed to be, watching Bourne’s Nutcracker.
The sweet, fantastic and colourful world leaves space to a equally bright snow-
covered world hosting the notorious Waltz of Snowflakes where the
homogeneity of the tiny, rigorously blond ballerinas of the traditional version, is
rethought in light of a less rigorous and harmonic performance with the
orphans dance in a winter wonderland in brilliant costumes. Hair braids, brown
hair and even glasses replace the traditional “blonde” ballet. Orphans are not
even dancing, but skating fast: someone falls, proportions are left out, couple
of women and men dance together, no hierarchy, expressivity on the looks of
each dancer able to involve the spectator’s one.
The breakthrough factor is this joyful push that subtle Bourne’s artworks and
inevitably attracts those who watch, forcing them to enter a pink, colourful,
ironic, vulgar and, after all, contemporary world.
