Sweet taste of success

12:52pm Thursday 24th January 2008

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MARSHMALLOW girls, yobby Gobstopper boys and a lewd Knickerbocker Glory are perhaps not immediately associated with traditional versions of The Nutcracker. But choreographer Matthew Bourne's imaginative reworking of the story seems to be fast becoming a modern classic in its own right.

First staged 15 years ago, The Nutcracker! now returns for a UK-wide tour, with its first stop at the Wycombe Swan this week.

"Adults and kids should all find something to thrill them and touch them in Clara’s adventure."

Matthew Bourne

"I've tried to tell a story for all the family," says Matthew, 48, who has also put his unique spin over the years on such productions as Swan Lake, The Car Man and Edward Scissorhands.

"Adults and kids should all find something to thrill them and touch them in Clara's adventure. Engaging the people of today was so much behind the production."

Matthew's revised scenario sets the story against the backdrop of Dr Dross's Orphanage for Waifs and Strays, a bleak Victorian institution where Christmas festivities are faked to impress the visiting governors.

Once they leave, the tinsel comes down, the tree disappears and the presents given to the orphans are tucked away into a locked cupboard. All they have left are their dreams.

Clara, who was given a nutcracker by the kindly governors earlier in the evening, dreams that her gift has now come alive. With The Nutcracker's help, a midnight battle ensues between the orphans and their keepers. Victorious, the orphans all run off into the night to a fantastical place called Sweetieland.

In a homage to the classic 1939 film The Wizard Of Oz, Sweetieland is consumed with bright and vibrant colours, in contrast with the dull, grey and white surroundings of the orphanage at the beginning of the tale.

Matthew, who trained at the prestigious Laban in London, has also created a number of larger-than-life characters in the confectionary-filled paradise, who take on the suite of national dances performed in traditional versions.

"One of the pleasures of creating these characters was to link them with their orphanage counterparts," says Matthew.

"In Clara's imagination her friends become the fluffy Marshmallow girls, the yobby Gobstopper boys, the vain Liquorice Allsort trio and the lewd and sticky Knickerbocker Glory. Dr and Mrs Dross also transform into the gluttonous rulers of Sweetieland, King Sherbert and Queen Candy.

"Everything is edible in Sweetieland and its inhabitants are judged not by how they look but by how they taste."

Yet with all the modifications Matthew has made to give The Nutcracker! a contemporary feel, Tchaikovsky's musical score stays true to the original.

Matthew explains: "I would like to think that the main reason The Nutcracker has retained its appeal is because of Tchaikovsky's incredible score. After 115 years, it still retains its mystery, magic and the power to transport us to another world."

Matthew Bourne's The Nutcracker! arrives at Wycombe Swan from Tuesday, January 29 to Saturday, February 2. Performances Tuesdays to Saturdays, 7.30pm. Matinees Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, 2.30pm. Tickets: 01494 512000

Watch a recent performance of The Nutcracker! at Sadler's Wells, London