THE NUTCRACKER
The North Wall
★★★★
“newcomers of all ages will enjoy this playful and imaginative production”
Creation Theatre’s alternative version of The Nutcracker trades point shoes and pas de deux for plot, characters and a hark back to a wonderfully odd German tale written by E.T.A Hoffmann nearly two centuries ago. Rather than relying on classical ballet and a sweeping score, this production (written and directed by Helen Eastman) leans fully into storytelling giving the familiar characters new depth and transforming the whimsical world of The Nutcracker into something more vivid and emotionally resonant with a touch of ‘Toy Story’ thrown in.
At its heart is Marie (played with childish wonder by Hayley Murray) a perceptive little girl who sees things that adults cannot. It is Christmas Eve and Marie and her annoying brother Fritz are helping their mother (Asha Cornelia Cluer who also plays Clara and the twinkly Sugar Plum Fairy) to decorate the Christmas tree. All three have a very different perception of what a perfect Christmas should be. We see the fraught Christmas of her mother trying frantically to juggle everything before the big day, Fritz taking delight in tormenting his sister and timid Marie who just wants her mother to listen to her and is happy for them all to just be together. Their eccentric Uncle Drosselmeyer pays them a visit and gives Marie a toy nutcracker (a marvellously wooden performance by Clark Alexander who also plays Drosselmeyer) as a Christmas present. When The Nutcracker and her favourite toy Clara later come alive to wage war against the fiendish Mouse King, whose subjects have taken up residence in her house, she is drawn into a surreal hidden world of sweets, mice and the Sugar Plum Fairy. Here she finds her confidence and discovers her own superpowers – kindness, friendship, loyalty and some very useful yet appalling recorder playing!
The Mouse King (played by Andy Owens who also plays Fritz) is a kind of gangster rapper baddie who has a delightfully witty scene of cleverly rephrased Shakespearean quotes ‘a plague on both your mouses’, ‘friends, rodents, countrymen…’ which helps to pick up the pace in the second half along with a hilarious battle scene involving brussels sprouts. The children, who are all part of Creation Theatre’s education programme that reaches hundreds of children annually through weekly drama clubs and holiday workshops, play the mice and various sweets and sing along to the catchy original songs by composer Patrick Stockbridge. They even serenade us with carols in the foyer – what a lovely touch.
The adaptable set (David Spence) is a jauntily angled classic living room with candy striped walls, hung with the odd masterpiece and a black and white liquorice allsorts floor. Drosselmeyer peers down at the action through the lath and plaster ceiling bursting with clock mechanisms reflecting the style of the pre Victorian era in which it was written.
Modern ballets ignore the tale within a tale which is acted out in this production and explains The Nutcracker’s enchantment. The original story hints that beneath all the Christmas sparkle lies something darker than the sugar-coated story this has become over the years. Long time fans of the original will appreciate the respectful nods to tradition while newcomers of all ages will enjoy this playful and imaginative production of The Nutcracker.
THE NUTCRACKER
The North Wall
Reviewed on 6th December 2025
by Sarah Milton
Photography by Geraint Lewis
Previously reviewed by Sarah:
THE LITTLE MERMAID | ★★★★ | WATERMILL THEATRE NEWBURY | November 2025
JACK AND THE BEANSTALK | ★★★★★ | LYRIC HAMMERSMITH | November 2025
MARKING TIME | ★★★½ | SADLER’S WELLS THEATRE | November 2025
CHARLEY’S AUNT | ★★★★★ | WATERMILL THEATRE NEWBURY | October 2025
DOUBTING THOMAS | ★★★½ | THEATRE ROYAL WINDSOR | June 2025
THREE HENS IN A BOAT | ★★★★★ | WATERMILL THEATRE NEWBURY | May 2025
