Tag Archives: Cassie Kinoshi

Nutcracker

★★★★★

Tuff Nutt Jazz Club 

NUTCRACKER at the Tuff Nutt Jazz Club 

★★★★★

Nutcracker

“McOnie’s clarity of vision and impeccable execution results in a production that is fun, fanciful, and doesn’t take itself too seriously”

Entering the Tuff Nutt Jazz Club, squirrelled away underneath the Royal Festival Hall on the Southbank, you can already tell you’re in for a treat of a production. A cool terrazzo topped bar awash with warm and inviting diffuse lighting greets you whilst upbeat, mildly festive jazz plays through the speakers to get you in to the spirit for one of dance’s quintessential Christmas favourites, reimagined.

Director-Choreographer Drew McOnie has devised a fresh and modern take on the classic ballet that maintains much of the structure but plays with form. Rather than Clara, we have Clive, who is waiting for Christmas in his small flat with his financially stressed father who would rather Clive played with Action Man than the fairy on the top of the Christmas tree. These two do not understand each other, but over the course of the next hour, through fantastical imaginings in Clive’s dreams, they come closer together.

Part of The Nutcracker’s enduring legacy is Tchaikovsky’s 19th century score, with key pieces, such as the dance of the sugar plum fairy, instantly recognisable and memorable. In McOnie’s production, these classical pieces are interpreted with a jazz influence by composer Cassie Kinoshi. Many of the most-loved refrains still drive the score, but are saxophone forward, reflecting the composer’s own instrument of choice. The four piece band, casually dressed in pyjamas, are perched on a small stage at the top of the club and are a pleasure to watch alongside the main action of the dancers.

But it is, of course, the dancers that take centre stage. Mark Samaras is utterly charming in the lead role of Clive, believable as a young boy all wide-eyed with wonder, whilst displaying a maturity of movement through self-assured rhythm and flow, all the more impressive given he is covering the role due to injury. Amonik Melaco as the modern nutcracker, Action Man, gives us a convincing transition from stereotypical masculinity to a more nuanced and fluid expression. His pas-de-deux with Sugar Plum Patricia Zhou towards the emotional climax of the piece is uplifting, physically and spiritually. The small cast of six are all strong and supple with heaps of charisma, each bringing a unique flavour, quite literally, to the piece.

“a sense of excitement to keep you on the edge of your seat”

A large part of what makes McOnie’s production so engaging is the intimacy afforded to it through the jazz club setting meaning you are close enough to see the sweat and catch a wink from the ensemble. There’s also tongue-in-cheek humour employed in unexpected ways. An interlude after the entry to Dreamland and the Waltz of the Snowflakes sees two of the snowflakes, in sequins and ski goggles, re-enter the stage with gold foiled leaf blowers to clear the confetti snow to a muzak version of the previous piece. Those faint of heart beware the front row! The leaps and bounds of the performers will be a whiskers width from you, but do not fear – these dancers are so in tune with their bodies there will be no risk of a collision, only a sense of excitement to keep you on the edge of your seat.

It all comes together as a beautifully constructed and almost immersive production. Set and venue design by Soutra Gilmour and costume by Ryan Dawson Laight are a real mash up of eras and styles with orange and brown tones screaming 1970s, contrasting with the bubblegum brights and sequins of Dreamland. The combination gives a familiarity of the festive season whilst keeping it contemporary and in line with the themes of the piece.

Reinterpreting such an iconic piece may appear a daunting task, but McOnie’s clarity of vision and impeccable execution results in a production that is fun, fanciful, and doesn’t take itself too seriously, whilst still employing the highest standards of creativity and artistry. A jolly production to kick off the festive season.


NUTCRACKER at the Tuff Nutt Jazz Club 

Reviewed on 4th November 2023

by Amber Woodward

Photography by Mark Senior

 

 

 

 

Five star reviews from October:

 

Dear England | ★★★★★ | Prince Edward Theatre | October 2023
Elephant | ★★★★★ | Bush Theatre | October 2023
The Least We Could Do | ★★★★★ | Hope Theatre | October 2023
The Ocean At The End Of The Lane | ★★★★★ | Noël Coward Theatre | October 2023
This Is Not A Circus: 360 | ★★★★★ | Jacksons Lane | October 2023

Nutcracker

Nutcracker

Click here to read all our latest reviews

 

The Tempest

The Tempest

★★★★

Shakespeare’s Globe

The Tempest

The Tempest

Shakespeare’s Globe

Reviewed – 29th July 2022

★★★★

 

“we’re perfectly happy to sit a little longer, marvelling at the all-sorts gathered on stage”

 

The Tempest is so easily, and so often, staged as a play of a single lead character, the mighty Prospero, with a generous sprinkling of small parts dallying around him. But in Sean Holmes’ production, there are no small parts. Each character finds their allies and enemies on stage, and each is the centre of their own story. Perhaps this is due to artistic director Michelle Terry’s idea of a Globe Ensemble: these actors have been working together for what should be a year, but owing to the pandemic is likely closer to two. And the confidences and friendships which have developed give this production a glorious esprit de corps: Whilst Ferdy Roberts has the most lines, he’s just one in a big family.

That being said, Roberts is fabulous as self-important Prospero. De-robing in the first thirty seconds to reveal a very small pair of yellow swimming briefs, he manifests both Prospero’s wild amount of self-confidence and his innate ridiculousness; perhaps he’s unable to laugh at himself, but we have plenty to laugh at.

Having been betrayed by his brother years ago and sent out to sea with his young daughter to near-certain death, Prospero discovers that his brother is now sailing in a wedding party past the desert island he now inhabits. He sends his servant-spirit Ariel to cause a storm and shipwreck the party, scattering them across the island, ripe for vengeful antics.

Whilst Prospero is often described as a sorcerer, under Holmes’ direction, the only magic he appears to have performed is making Ariel feel indebted to him. So, any time he requires magic to be done, there she appears, with a flick of the wrist. Rachel Hannah Clarke is cheeky but resolute as Ariel, enjoying her tasks of playful manipulation, whilst also holding a solemn gaze with Prospero in talks of her freedom.

It’s this balance of playfulness and gravity that dictates the play’s atmosphere. Yes, the stage is filled with swimming inflatables- a lobster, a flamingo- and it feels completely apt that characters should be bewitched to behave like dogs and think they’re Harry Potter, but there is also much loss and betrayal which is somehow still strikingly felt amidst all the hijinks.

Whilst planes overhead often feature ad-libitum at the Globe, Ralph Davis’ perfectly timed screech for help as a plane passes by, is brilliant. In fact, he has quite a few bold moments of ad-libbing (“O, touch me not; I am not Stephano…I’m the boy who lived.”) which feels especially transgressive in a Shakespeare play but works wonderfully.

Ciarán O’Brien’s Caliban, traditionally played as grotesque and feral, is here a stroppy, sheltered teenager, which feels much less problematic and leaves plenty of space for us to think he might very well earn his freedom after the play is done.

By far my favourite moment is the celebratory dance performed by gods and spirits on Prospero’s request as a gift to his daughter Miranda and her betrothed Ferdinand. Maybe ten or fifteen appear, wearing floral-patchworked white jumpsuits, flower crowns and rose-tinted glasses, clutching palm fronds. At first the dance is flat-out bizarre, and soon it becomes overtly sexual as the ‘gods’ hump the air, moving closer and closer to the couple, eventually resulting in what appears to be a group orgasm, much to Prospero’s horror.

Like many of Shakespeare’s comedies, it takes a little too long to wrap up, insisting on accounting for every single character, one after the other. But so much good will has been won by then that we’re perfectly happy to sit a little longer, marvelling at the all-sorts gathered on stage, or gazing up past the Globe’s thatched roof to the clear summer sky.

 

Reviewed by Miriam Sallon

Photography by Marc Brenner

 


The Tempest

Shakespeare’s Globe until 22nd October

 

Recent shows reviewed by Miriam:

Witness For The Prosecution | ★★★★★ | London County Hall | April 2022
100 Paintings | ★★ | Hope Theatre | May 2022
La Bohème | ★★★½ | King’s Head Theatre | May 2022
Y’Mam | ★★★★ | Soho Theatre | May 2022
The Fellowship | ★★★ | Hampstead Theatre | June 2022
I Can’t Hear You | ★★★★ | Theatre503 | July 2022
The Hive | ★★★ | Hoxton Hall | July 2022
Hungry | ★★★★★ | Soho Theatre | July 2022
Oh Mother | ★★★★ | Soho Theatre | July 2022
An Intervention | ★★★½ | Greenwich Theatre | July 2022

 

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