The Nutcracker – Bristol Old Vic

Denzel Baidoo in The Nutcracker at the Bristol Old Vic. Picture: Geraint Lewis

The Nutcracker continues at the Bristol Old Vic until 7 January 2022.

Star rating: two stars ★ ★ ✩ ✩ ✩

It takes some chutzpah to choose as your showcase Christmas offering a radically different approach to a story that has become the festive icon for many a year at one of the world’s leading ballet companies. But this is what the Bristol Old Vic (and in particular departing artistic director Tom Morris) have done with their bold but flawed version of the Hoffmann classic The Nutcracker, minus the sumptuous Tchaikovsky score, that always plays to packed houses when performed by the Royal Ballet in Covent Garden.

Writer Morris and composer/lyricist Gwyneth Herbert (who also finds time to moonlight as Queen Mouse) have conjured up a dark, and at times unnerving retelling of the fairy tale. The setting remains Christmas Eve, but the style mixes Gothic horror straight out of a 1960s Hammer film with a morality exercise about a dysfunctional family with little or no time for day-dreaming daughter Claire (played by Mae Munuo). It is delivered by the cast at maximum volume throughout, and against a score heavy on soul music but certainly not designed to send you out humming the hits.

The first half battle with the Queen Mouse is particularly unpleasant, with strings of dead mice littering the stage, and the only truly tender scene comes after the interval when Claire’s father (Kirris Riviere) muses on the joys and worries of becoming a father for the first time. Nor is the show saved by its comic moments – a royal family christened King Sausage and Queen Spoon tells you all you want to know here.

The cast remain admirably bullish throughout. BOV veteran Tristan Sturrock, who not all that many moons ago made a remarkable bid for the Guinness Book of Records with the oldest Peter Pan on record, again draws the short straw as clockmaker Mr Choke, the largely detached storyteller. Making his professional debut in the title role,

BOV Theatre School graduate Denzel Baidoo dances attractively but has little else to do; and Guy Hughes, who doubles as Claire’s brother Eddie and Action Man, appears almost throughout in combat fatigues (don’t ask). Musicians Harry Bird and James Gow have their moments on stage also.

The evening is not helped by experienced director Lee Lyford’s rat-a-tat-tat approach (perhaps making up for the seemingly endless opening scene). However, Tom Rogers’ detailed clockwork set reflects the passing of time impressively.

The last 13 years has seen Morris, who joined from the National Theatre in 2009, put the BOV firmly back on track after some shaky times, guiding them through the pandemic and giving fresh life to the importance of their role in the Bristol community. Sadly, this festive mishmash of a show, which has little to captivate the youngsters out front, is something of a disappointing farewell.

John Houseman