The Nutcracker and the Mouse King

The first version of the ballet The Nutcracker premiered in St Petersburg in 1892. Nowadays, productions of Nutcracker are performed all over the world, especially at Christmas time. The Amsterdam version, entitled The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, is regarded by connoisseurs as one of the most beautiful productions of the ballet ever, and it is a milestone in Dutch theatre history. Choreographed by Wayne Eagling and Toer van Schayk, the ballet is now also, in a slightly adapted version, part of the repertoires of several companies abroad.

For both children and adults

For their version for Dutch National Ballet, Eagling and Van Schayk chose to take a purely Dutch approach to the story. Unlike the original story by E.T.A. Hoffmann, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King does not take place on Christmas Eve in a small town in Germany, but on the eve of St Nicholas, in Amsterdam, around 1810. At the same time, they adapted the story to suit contemporary tastes. There are lots of scene changes and an exciting battle between Clara’s nutcracker doll, which comes to life, and the mouse king’s army. This makes the ballet less sugary and more dynamic than many other Nutcracker productions. In the version by Eagling and Van Schayk, imagination rules – and that works, for the adults as well.

Dutch masters

The audience is immersed in a festive fantasy world, in which the wonderful sets and costumes, designed by Van Schayk himself, play an important role. For his designs, Van Schayk was inspired by the work of the Dutch masters of the Golden Age.