Cinders!: a radical, gender-flipped twist on a Scottish Ballet favourite
Christopher Hampson’s lively and inventive choreography for Prokofiev’s Cinderella has become a celebrated part of the Scottish Ballet repertoire. However, this revival - titled Cinders! - makes ballet history with a radical, gender-flipped twist: audiences won’t find out until the curtain goes up whether “Cinders” will be a woman sought out by her prince or (in a world first) a man tracked down by his princess.
In either case, in this relocation and recasting of the ballet, Cinders is the orphan child of the ill-fated Scottish drapers, the Roses, whose grand store is destroyed in a fire. The business is taken over by a wealthy, American heiress called Mrs Thorne. She arrives in Scotland, like an extra from The Great Gatsby, with her spoiled offspring (daughters Morag and Flossie, and son Tarquin) in tow.
On press night, the titular Rose among Thornes was performed by male dancers (Charles Waller as Young Cinders and principal dancer Bruno Micchiardi as the older Cinders). The gender swap might perturb those who prefer that folktales are kept in their traditional mould but, as Scottish Ballet says, breaking with tradition in ballet is a tradition in itself. In terms of both the narrative and the dance itself, the gender twist is smooth and (in 2023) unlikely to prove controversial.
We are given notice of the imminent arrival of Mrs Thorne (who is danced with wonderfully wicked angularity by Grace Paulley) and her trio of spoiled brats by means of cleverly invented newspaper headlines which are projected onto the set. The character of Tarquin (Aaron Venegas, abundantly detestable on press night) will be invaluable to performances in which the title character is male (as it is he, not the sisters, who attempts, with tremendous comedy, to force his foot into the glass slipper).
This re-envisioning of Hampson’s ballet is so distinctive (not least in the superb set and costume design by Elin Steele) that it can seem like an entirely new work. However, certain scenes – such as the hilarious bad dancing of the nasty sisters (in the style of comic group Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo) – remind us why Hampson’s inspired and witty choreography deserves to be revived.
The pas de deux between Cinders and the heir to the throne work fascinatingly well in the gender-swapped version of the show. As Princess Louise (the fantastic Jessica Fyfe) reclines on a chaise longue, her reverie gives way to an unapologetically romantic dream sequence in which, emerging through the 1980s pop video-style dry ice, the fabulous Micchiardi’s Cinders sweeps her off her feet.
All of which is elevated gorgeously by Prokofiev’s famous, often soaring musical score. The zest and power of the playing of the Scottish Ballet Orchestra, under the baton of Wolfgang Heinz, is the perfect partner to an ingeniously revived choreography.
At Theatre Royal, Glasgow until December 31, then touring until February 10: scottishballet.co.uk
