Scottish Ballet’s new show Cinders! puts the ‘season’ into seasonal, with a touring run which lasts throughout the whole winter.
“Essentially it’s a show about transformation and magic,” says Christopher Hampson, the show’s choreographer and Scottish Ballet’s artistic director.
“It’s not a show about Christmas, so it should last well into February.”
When we spoke, the company and their new take on Cinderella were midway through a run which lasted throughout December at Glasgow’s Theatre Royal. The show then moved on to Edinburgh, and Aberdeen and will arrive in Inverness at the end of the month, before a visit to Newcastle’s Theatre Royal in February.
“We’ve had a fantastic response, audiences have really gone with it and are enjoying it,” says Hampson.
“We’ve done around ten shows in Glasgow so far, which have sold out to the rafters. I’ve had a few people stop me in the foyer to say thank you to Scottish Ballet for doing this, which I’ve found very touching. I feel like people are seeing themselves on stage in a way that perhaps they haven’t before.”
Scottish Ballet’s Cinders! offers new twist on classic tale
The hook to the show is that this Cinderella isn’t just a story of a downtrodden young woman being saved by a dashing young prince with all the wealth and advantages to spirit her away – yet sometimes it is.
On some evenings the role of Cinders will be played by a female dancer, on others by a male dancer, and they’ll take it in turns to be swept off their feet by Prince Louis or Princess Louise.
“Women in the audience have said how much they’ve enjoyed seeing the Princess character,” continues Hampson.
“When she arrives on stage she’s fully-formed, she knows who she is, she rules the room. She makes everything happen, and it’s not often you get that, which for such a well-known fairytale seems to have hit upon something. Conversely, seeing a male in a vulnerable place and needing someone to help his narrative to conclude is also unusual.”
‘Time to look at who gets to tell stories’
The idea of having a gender-swapped character isn’t new to Hampson’s Scottish Ballet – he’s done it previously with Drosselmeyer the magician in The Nutcracker.
“It’s time to look at who gets to tell stories, who gets to be magical, who gets to be transformed and who does the transforming,” he says. “I think that’s fun and playful, and so far the reaction has been great.”
The idea came to him when he discovered a book of fairy stories in which each of the main characters had been written in a gender-swapped role.
“So you had witches that were men, you had Snow Whites that were men, you had women that were slaying dragons,” he says. “It was really clever and it made me read them all afresh, but I thought, why is that so special? You should be able to tell a story any which way.
“That gave me the inspiration to look particularly at this story, Cinderella, and decide who gets to drive the narrative, who gets to guide the dream, who fixes who in a story. I think it’s safe to say it’s normally the male character that makes everything all right for a female character, and I don’t see why that shouldn’t be the other way around.”
‘Audiences have been laughing out loud’
There’s also plenty going on beyond the modern casting choices, including Sergei Prokofiev’s score for the Cinderella story, played by a live orchestra, which Hampson intriguingly describes as “by far my favourite ballet score.” He also promises a show which is a lot of fun, with beautifully designed sets and costumes by young designer Elin Steele.
“Audiences have been laughing out loud,” he says. “Elin’s sets and costumes also create the most magical Art Nouveau world. It’s set at the beginning of the 20th century, so it goes from a very recognisable world, a draper’s store where we find the orphaned Cinders, to a magical garden where all of Cinders’ dreams come true.
“Then we’re through a gold gateway into the ballroom, which is absolutely stunning, really sumptuous, as are the costumes – beautiful ballgowns, and the men look amazing in their white tie and tails. It’s a very opulent look which gets better and better with every scene, but Cinders still gets transformed into the most beautiful costume to go to the ball, whether you’re seeing a female or a male Cinders.”
There’s one other major difference, says Hampson. “This really is a love story. It’s not just about rags to riches, it’s about people finding their soulmate. Audiences are in for a wintry treat.”
Cinders! Aberdeen and Inverness dates
Cinders! is at His Majesty’s Theatre in Aberdeen from 24 to 27 of January and Eden Court, Inverness from January 31 to February 3, for more information go to scottishballet.co.uk
