Review: THE NUTCRACKER at Hangaren, Subtopia

The Nutcracker at Subtopia

The nutcracker is a ballet closely associate with Christmas as in the classic story of E T A Hoffman that is about Christmas celebration at a wealthy family. Most people know the music of Tchaikovsky. But in this version by Fredrik Benke Rydman which premiered in 2016 and now is running again, the plot has been placed in the present with a family where the mother and father have left their daughter Clara on a dump in their home country and gone away to another country to beg for their livelihood. Clara has an unusual blood group and when the greedy organ dealer Drosselmeyer hears about it, he sees his chance to save a Rich Woman who needs a new heart. He brings a broken nutcracker doll for Clara from her parents as a Christmas gift. A nutcracker that gets alive when Clara dreams. This is not a sweet or beautiful version of the Nutcracker but a contemporary depiction.

Fredrik Benke Rydman is one of Swedens most famous choreographers and here we get a lovely mix of classic ballet, modern dance, street dance and break dance. Part of Tchaikovsky's music remains but has been supplemented by music from, among others, Danny Saucedo, Anna Ternheim and Martin Östergren.

The scene design is cool and I especially liked how they use the curtain and open up view windows in several numbers so you only see parts of the scene, which is very effectful.

In addition to all the super-talented dancers such as Daniel Koivunen, the "audience host" Jörgen has an important role in this performance. As dance can be at bit tricky to understand he has the task of explaining to us in the audience what is happening and pops up occasionally during the performance. Jörgen is played by Jörgen Thorsson and he managed to be nerdy and completely wrong in the right way so it was fun.

I have never seen the Nutcracker so I can't say how much this adheres to the original version, but I really liked this show. Fantastic choreographed dance performed by world-class dancers, cool music, delicious clothes, exciting set design, stylish lighting and unexpected fun. Very impressive set.

The theatre Subtopia is a theater in the suburb Alby and it famous as it is the set of Cirkus Cirkör. Subtopia is in a big hangar and it fit this version of Nutcracker very well with the slightly rougher environment around than Dansens hus where the Nutcracker was played in 2016. The theater itself was modern and there was a serving if you wanted to shop something to eat or drink before.

The nutcracker is played on January 5, 2019 at Subtopia. Then it will be played in Germany throughout January.

Tickets are on sale at:

https://www.blixten.se/notknapparen

Press photo by Daniel Ohlsson