Clara is the most innocent of ballet heroines, a tiny guileless protagonist around whom the magic of The Nutcracker unfolds. When adult dancers perform the role they’re usually very young, with little experience of complex dramatic repertory. Francesca Hayward, however, has already danced Manon and Juliet, two of ballet’s most nuanced tragic figures and, unusually, she brings acting skills to Clara that are as sophisticated as her dancing.
Hayward’s Clara is never other than artless, girlish and giddy – entranced by the tricks and transformations around her – but her skill is to make these emotions register as spontaneous reaction, never as generic ballet gesture. The quick, subtle changes of Hayward’s facial expression and the alertness of her timing make us see the ballet through Clara’s astounded eyes. When she is about to be whisked back home from the Kingdom of Sweets, her gaze darkens and deepens as if she’s already being sucked back into sleep. It’s a tiny detail, but ineffably touching.
Hayward’s dancing is reliably superb, her elegant feet and pliant upper body a gorgeous instrument for the colour and sweep of Tchaikovsky’s score. But The Nutcracker is above all a company ballet, and most of the cast are very fine too. Hayward is buoyantly partnered by Alexander Campbell’s gallant Nutcracker Prince; Gary Avis is a debonair, devilish Drosselmeyer and Yasmine Naghdi is lyrical and finely detailed in the Waltz of the Flowers. On Friday night, the Sugar Plum Fairy pas de deux lacked a grandeur of scale and emotion. But Lauren Cuthbertson was being partnered by a very last-minute replacement, Federico Bonelli, and her solo variations compensated with a fresh and fine-spun elegance. This production has been in the Royal’s rep for more than 400 performances, and for me it still ranks as Nutcracker gold.
- In rep at the Royal Opera House, London, until 14 January. Box office: 020-7304 4000. Performance streamed live in cinemas on 16 December.
