The Nutcracker has been given a woke makeover by the English National Ballet with the addition of Suffragettes and a girl boss lead character. The Telegraph has more.
Suffragettes will feature alongside sugar plums in a new feminist production of The Nutcracker.
Tchaikovsky’s ballet of enchanted toys and magical sweets will be staged by the English National Ballet over Christmas.
The 1892 ballet has long been a festive favourite, but it has now been updated for modern audiences by making its heroine less helpless.
Clara, the lead, will be shown handling the villains herself rather than leaving the violence to the eponymous Nutcracker, who is the prince charming of the piece.
Her heroics in the updated tale come after she is shown taking inspiration from a group of suffragettes in an amended early scene.
The feminist tweaks make the plot more of a journey of self-discovery than a simple fantasy, English National Ballet has said.
In promotional material for the show, which runs until January 12th at the London Coliseum, the company said: “She [Clara] is a young girl living in Edwardian London.
“Her journey reflects the era’s emerging hope, especially for women – she even meets some suffragettes along her journey.”
It adds that Clara “goes on a transformative adventure, building her confidence and helping her realise her inner strength”. …
The suite of changes has been overseen by co-choreographers Arielle Smith and Aaron Watkin, who wanted to modernise the plot.
Mr. Watkin told the Radio Times magazine: “We’re in a very different time now to when The Nutcracker premiered.
“Why does Clara need someone to protect her? She’s a young woman full of agency.”
Worth reading in full.
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.
“Updated for modern audiences” = turned into ideologically driven trash
Well so what I don’t gaf. I don’t like ballet, the kind of people that do ( or rather, pretend to with the generous aid of our taxes) love this shit.
Let ’em get on with it.
I’m much more concerned about trashing the education of a whole generation, and about the IPCC’s latest shenanigans.
You are right, it’s irrelevant.
Just some brain dead rubbish produced by talentless people who, devoid of any original ideas, take a classic piece of real art and trash it.
“By their fruits you will know them.”
I like ballet, and I don’t “love this shit”.
I can’t be sure but I would be surprised if any of the ballet performances I have watched live were subsidised, given the very high ticket prices, but then I haven’t gone to see woke crap like this.
I can’t think of much that the ENO hasn’t butchered. I wonder if they would survive without their copious grants?
“She even meets some suffragettes along her journey.”
Did she help them plant bombs?
This story is better suited to the roundup.
Perhaps ENO should have thrown in some Burka wearing mice with the soldiers wearing ISIS head bands with Hamas flags, just to cater fully for ‘modern’ audiences. I’m sure the Suffragettes would have been all in with this?
So men can apparently identify as feminists too, then? Who’d have thunk it? And there was me just talking about the many men who are onboard with the whole woke mind virus thing…Facts proving rather inconvenient yet again for some, no doubt.
Both the Artistic Director and outgoing CEO of the ENB are men ( woman taking over as CEO in Jan, though ). Who did we say was responsible for the alleged ”feminization of the nation”, again?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6ds5U-_Np0
https://www.royalballetschool.org.uk/2024/06/04/the-royal-ballet-school-appoints-new-ceo/
Why don’t they write new stuff that fulfils their political views and people will pay to see? Oh yes, sorry. They can’t.
Such performances are only possible because the taxpayers fund them. The tax payers don’t want to go and no one asked them.
i suggest such funding ought to be voluntary. An opt-in on tax returns could be used.
My understanding (open to correction) is the Suffragettes campaigned for suffrage for women 30 years or older, but not from the working class.
The silly thing is it just doesn’t reflect reality. A twelve year old girl is attacked and you really think she’ll fight off the villains not the soldier? Even if she was a grown woman I think in reality it’s going to be a man that fights the villains.
‘Modernise the plot’. What on Earth does this vacuous statement mean? I suppose it is meant to sound cool and hip but, instead, comes across as laughable nonsense.
Snore…