Last Updated on December 19, 2025
When Clara Met Derren…
3.0 out of 5.0 starsNew English Ballet Theatre’s The Nutcracker is a slimmed-down affair, suitable for a small-scale company, and none the worse for that. For one thing, both narrative and characterisation are immaculate, so that, even if unfamiliar with the plot (unlikely), you don’t need to read the excellent programme synopsis to follow the action.
A first scene establishes the central character of the magician – here not the Drosselmeyer of traditional versions, but a party entertainer inspired by the illusionist Derren Brown. He is danced with just a touch of OTT enthusiasm by Louis deFelice. In his study, he swings his gold fob watch, establishing that hypnosis is his forte, and focuses the audience’s eyes on the main presents for the party: a pirate ship and a gleaming nutcracker.
The pirate ship is the present for Clara’s brother, here called George, who is obsessed with pirates, something immediately clear in the ensuing party scene, when he bounds in wearing an eyepatch and brandishing a hook, much to the consternation of his father, the very proper party host.
And once Clara settles in for the night, cradling her beloved nutcracker, and is hypnotised into a deep sleep, the transformation takes place within a pirate ship, where, instead of mice, we have fierce pirates fighting the nutcracker’s soldiers.
Led by the Snow Queen, Clara and her nutcracker, now in human form, cross the Land of Snowflakes into the Land of Imagination.
There, the real-life characters have been transformed by Clara’s imagination into fantastical characters, who perform divertissements suggested by the presents exchanged at the party.
Thus does choreographer Valentino Zucchetti bring clarity and coherence to the story, helped by a small complement of hard-working dancers, each of whom (Clara and the Nutcracker excluded) takes on a variety of roles with total commitment and unflagging energy. I applaud their professionalism.
Zucchetti, a First Soloist with The Royal Ballet, is a very good choreographer, responsive to the music and sensitive to the needs and abilities of his dancers; but, in a small-scale production like this, some scenes inevitably work better than others.
For me, the ballet came alive in the splendid battle scene.
Joshie Harriette’s lighting, excellent throughout, becomes subdued as sails descend from above, suggesting the inside of a pirate ship. There, a full complement of pirates, led by George, and the nutcracker’s soldiers go at each other with ferocious gusto, swords and scimitars clashing, filling the stage with movement and excitement.
By contrast, the preceding party scene feels a little flat. Set in the 1990s, the movement suggests dances of the period, including the Macarena, a bit of limbo dancing and the inevitable conga.
However, it does look a little underpopulated, as if most of the guests, perhaps put off by bad weather, had sent in their apologies…
Another scene that works absolutely is the Snow Scene, with its flurry of male and female snowflakes – again, Zucchetti shows his talent for ensemble movement.
Some of the dancers deserve special mention, none more so than Audrey Nelson, who comes into her own as an assured Snow Queen, tackling her difficult choreography with aplomb and a winning smile; something she brings to her later interpretation of the Flower Queen.
Not all the divertissements worked. For me, the most successful was Coffee Pot (Arabian dance), compellingly performed by Leila Wright and Nicholas Isiah King Rose, where, led by Tchaikovsky’s sultry, orientalist music, Zucchetti created movement so suggestive you could practically smell the steaming, cardamom-infused coffee…
And Shynngys Tolegen and Marcos Silva brought explosive vitality to the virtuoso Russian hats.
And so we come to the protagonists, Clara and the Nutcracker, who also get to dance the Sugar Plum Fairy pas de deux. Clara was performed by the globetrotting Russian, now a guest principal at Vienna’s Staatsballett, Liudmila Konovalova; her Nutcracker/Prince was Luca de Poli.
Konovalova’s is a grown-up Clara, if not an adult, at least in her late teens. Her Clara is competent but not very relatable; her Sugar Plum Fairy is capable of all the requisite technical prowess – Zucchetti created his own choreography, though quoting from the traditional Ivanov pas de deux – but I do wish she wouldn’t spend so much time looking down, instead of out at the audience.
De Poli is a tall, elegant dancer and a solid partner, but his dancing is sadly inexpressive.
The most disconcerting part of the evening was the recorded music. Ironically, the sound system at Lamda – London Academy of Music (my italics) and Dramatic Art – is loud and distorting, and Tchaikovsky’s glorious score was audibly savaged in parts, rather than subtly edited.
That is, I think, easily fixed. For the rest, NEBT’s The Nutcracker is a worthy touring production, with showy costumes and detailed, scene-setting backcloths, capable of bringing a welcome touch of Christmas to parts of the country less well served by ballet and dance.
NEBT Nutcracker is at Salisbury Theatre, LAMDA on 18th to 20th December 2025 (matinees & evening)
LAMDA
155 Talgarth Road
London W14 9DA
Valentino Zucchetti talks to London Unattached about his Nutcracker here
Looking for a different Nutcracker? Check English National Ballet’s Nutcracker at the London Coliseum
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