STEVE ANDREW enjoys an account of the many communities that flourished independently of and in resistance to the empires of old
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Seasonal cracker from Birmingham Royal Ballet
TOM STONE urges you to catch the last dates of a New York singer/songwriter, never afraid to challenge her audiences musically or politically
JAN WOOLF examines work that aims to give viewers a material experience of the environments in the polar north and Britain equally affected by the climate crisis
The bard recalls advice received 50 years ago from his TRB muse, and sorts out appropriate legislation for football club ownership
MICHAL BONCZA and MARIA DUARTE review Facing War, Kontinental ’25, Bugonia, and Relay
MAYER WAKEFIELD is frustrated by a production of Ibsen’s classic study of an anti-heroine that fails to elucidate her motivations
PETER MASON tunes his ear into the domestic affairs of a Carribbean couple with a troublesome son
The Nutcracker
Royal Albert Hall, London
WHERE would the festive period be without pantos like A Christmas Carol or ballets like The Nutcracker?
Better off, some would say, but the naysayers might be persuaded differently by the quality of what's on offer and this new version of the two-act ballet classic by Birmingham Royal Ballet, adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas and with Tchaikovsky's uber-famous score, is up there with the best of them.
Remaining largely true to the original, it tells the story of toymaker and magician Drosselmeyer, narrated by legendary actor Simon Callow, who appears in a puff of smoke to give family and children presents as they decorate the Christmas tree.
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