A Nutcracker even the men might like!

4:22pm Wednesday 26th March 2008

He ruffled feathers among the ballet purists with a half-naked all-male ensemble in Swan Lake. He turned Tim Burton's Edward Scissor-hands into a gothic fairytale and transformed Bizet's Carmen into a slice of 1950s Americana.

Now Matthew Bourne is bringing dancing gobstoppers and a giant wedding cake to the Alhambra in his lively version of classic ballet Nutcracker.

More than a decade ago the director and choreographer sent gasps rippling through the theatre world by transforming Swan Lake into a striking, witty contemporary tale with extravagant designs. Here was a prince falling for a buff, bare-chested male swan in knee-length feathers, thrilling audiences with an audacious pas de deux.

Hailed a theatrical landmark, it toured the world, won countless awards and became the longest-running ballet in the West End and Broadway.

Now he's turned his attention to Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker.

Described as a "delicious theatrical feast", Nutcracker! serves up family-sized helpings of Matthew's trademark wit, pathos and magical fantasy.

It follows the bittersweet journey of a young girl, Clara, from a bleak Christmas Eve at Dr Dross's Orphanage for waifs and strays, through a shimmering winter wonderland to the scrumptious candy kingdom of Sweetieland.

Tchaikovsky's score and designer Anthony Ward's stunning sets and costumes combine with sizzling choreography to create a fresh, hip and charmingly irreverent interpretation of the family favourite.

The first half, set in the orphanage, is mostly grey, black and white, then there's a riot of colour as Clara meets the inhabitants of Sweetieland; Prince Bonbon, Princess Sugar, King Sherbert, Queen Candy and the dancing sweeties - the Knickerbocker Glories, Marshmallows and Gobstoppers.

As a boy growing up in Walthamstow, Matthew would lose himself in films at his local cinema.

"I didn't grow up in a dance environment and I didn't start dancing until the age of 22," he says. "Cinema was what influenced me as a child - I particularly loved musicals - and it remains my strongest influence."

After studying dance theatre and choreography he danced professionally before setting up his company, New Adventures.

He refers to his work as "dance theatre", working under the philosophy that if you wouldn't normally go to a ballet you're not going to be inspired by a po-faced production featuring a faceless ensemble of stick-thin ballerinas. "My dancers look like real people, each with their own facial expressions and personalities," he says. "I use humour because it breaks the ice and is an effective way of telling a story."

Nutcracker appealed to him because it's about growing up and first love. "It's a touching coming-of-age story told through the dreams, and nightmares, of a young girl.

"The classical Nutcracker has become a Christmas tradition, particularly for mothers and daughters, and it's often the first ballet children see. But it can be difficult to follow - and a bore for the men of the family. I've tried to tell a story for all the family."

Matthew says Tchaikovsky's score lies at the heart of the story. "It's incredible. Act One contains some of his most engaging and profound story-telling music and Act Two has one glorious melody after another. After 116 years it retains its mystery and magic.

In the classical ballet the story begins at a Christmas party in a wealthy family home. But Matthew's production begins in a bleak orphanage.

"I've always felt the Christmas party scene represents a fantasy in itself for most audiences, so when we're transported into Clara's fantasy world we've really just gone from one idyllic fantasy to another," he says. "I thought audiences would feel the transformation more if the party was less opulent and more bittersweet. We came up with the notion of an awful Dickensian orphanage.

"Clara is one of the orphans and the Nutcracker boy is a fellow orphan she has a crush on. Fritz and Sugar are the Drosses' spoilt children. So the basis for the whole story developed out of this grim, fearful place. I should say, though, that it's very funny and when the orphans escape you want to cheer them on!"

The famous snow flakes' sequence is transformed into a glorious ice-skating extravaganza in Matthew's staging.

"There are certain things that every production of Nutcracker should deliver - the growing Christmas tree, the transformation of the Nutcracker into a young man and the falling of snow during the snowflakes sequence," he says.

"Everyone loves snow falling, and I wanted to capture that joy through the eyes of the orphan children. They skate across a frozen pond as an exhilarating expression of their new-found freedom."

One of the pleasures of creating the colourful sweetie characters was linking them with their orphanage counterparts.

"In Clara's imagination her friends become the fluffy Marshmallow girls, the yobby Gobstopper boys, the vain Liquorice Allsort trio and the lewd Knickerbocker Glory! Her best friends, the twins, become her heavenly helpers, The Cupids. Dr and Mrs Dross transform into the gluttonous rulers of Sweetieland, King Sherbet and Queen Candy.

"Everything is edible in Sweetieland. Its inhabitants are judged not by how they look but how they taste!"

• Nutcracker! runs at the Alhambra from May 20 to 24. For tickets ring (01274) 432000.

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