Category Blog

Your blog category

Nutcracker, English National Ballet Review 4*

English National Ballet’s eye-catching and immensely entertaining new Nutcracker delighted a packed Coliseum on opening night  Fresh, lively and very sweet – English National Ballet’s new Nutcracker is definitely a vast and much needed improvement on the company’s previous production.…

Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake Review 5*

Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake returns to the stage 30 years after its premiere upended our view of ballet Matthew Bourne’s visionary Swan Lake is that rare thing: a work that gains in emotional intensity with every viewing.   Premiered in…

National Theatre, Ballet Shoes Review 4*

The National Theatre stages a lavish adaptation of Ballet Shoes, a favourite of successive generations of British children (image credit: Daisy Sequerra (Posy Fossil), Yanexi Enriquez (Petrova Fossil) and Grace Saif (Pauline Fossil) in Ballet Shoes at the National Theatre.…

Lost Dog, Ruination Review 4*

Lost Dog’s Ruination is an exhilarating rollercoaster ride, riffing on the classic Greek myth of the sorcerer Medea (image credit Anna-Kay Gayle as Persephone andJean Daniel Broussé as Hades in Lost Dog’s Ruination © 2022 Camilla Greenwell)  Not exactly Christmas…

Magical Nutcracker from English National Ballet

English National Ballet’s new Nutcracker is fresh, surprising and full of magic, company artistic director Aaron S Watkin tells me Image credit: Junor Souza as Drosselmeyer and English National Ballet in Aaron S. Watkin and Arielle Smith’s Nutcracker © Photography by ASH…

Carlos Acosta’s Nutcracker in Havana

Carlos Acosta tells me why and how he’s transporting the Christmas ballet to Cuba as Nutcracker in Havana Carlos Acosta came late to Christmas. The Cuba where the boy who was to become an international ballet superstar grew up in…

Erina Takahashi – Portrait of a Ballerina

The doyenne of English National Ballet, Lead Principal Dancer Erina Takahashi has graced the stage for 28 years (image credit: Erina Takahashi as Medora in ENB’s Le Corsaire © Laurent Liotardo) Erina Takahashi calls English National Ballet home.  Born in…