THEATRE
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SCOTTISH BALLET’S CINDERELLA Christopher Hampson captures the human emotion in this popular Some stories are so embedded in our culture, we don’t even question them – even when they need questioning. Well, thankfully, choreographer Christopher Hampson did some hard thinking when he created his Cinderella for Royal New Zealand Ballet in 2007. of a more natural variety. Eight years later, he is re-staging the work at Scottish Ballet, bringing a menagerie of dancing wildlife to life this Christmas.
‘It was key for me that Cinderella’s journey
didn’t rely on jewels and riches – even though she does look beautiful – but that actually it’s the garden where her mother is buried that helps her,’ explains Hampson. ‘It’s the silk moths, spiders and grasshoppers, who are all characters, that help Cinderella get ready. The silk moths spin the silk for her satin shoes, the spiders weave her dress. So it all comes from an organic place.’ (Kelly Apter) ■ Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Sat 5–Thu 31 Dec; Theatre Royal, Glasgow, Tue 12–Sat 16 Jan.
‘The one big thing I wanted to do differently, was not to tell a rags to riches tale,’ he explains. ‘Because I just don’t think that has a place today. It felt wrong to be propagating the tale of a female getting out of a bad situation through marrying a man – that’s just so old and jaded.’ Quite.
Instead, Hampson focused on the characters, still infusing the tale with magic and beauty, but
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