Vidar Hjarding MBE - Matthew Bourne’s Nutcracker! Audio Described Theatre Review

RNIB Connect Radio’s Toby Davey is joined again by Vidar Hjarding MBE, Inclusion and Diversity Consultant for ITV News across England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands for the next in his regular Connect Radio audio described theatre reviews.

This week Vidar reviews the audio described performance of ‘Matthew Bourne’s Nutcracker!’ at the Birmingham Hippodrome Theatre with audio description by Caroline Burn.

Matthew Bourne’s re-imagining of Tchaikovsky’s classic ballet returned to the stage for the first time in ten years following it’s very first performance in Edinburgh back in 1992.

With family-sized helpings of Bourne’s trademark wit, pathos and magical fantasy, Nutcracker! follows Clara’s bittersweet journey from a darkly comic Christmas Eve at Dr. Dross’ Orphanage, through a shimmering, ice-skating winter wonderland to the scrumptious candy kingdom of Sweetieland, influenced by the lavish Hollywood musicals of the 1930s.

Tchaikovsky’s glorious score and Anthony Ward’s newly-refreshed delectable sets and costumes combine with Bourne’s dazzling choreography to create a fresh and charmingly irreverent interpretation of the classic.  

Vidar began by telling Toby it was a very magical experience for him but very different to the traditional productions of The Nutcracker that he has seen with AD before by Birmingham Royal Ballet. Vidar appreciates the time and trouble that Caroline Burn the Audio Describers put into bringing dance and ballet to life for him and other visually impaired people and providing description that works for both him as someone who has not studied dance or ballet at all and those visually impaired people who may have been or who are dancers. The enthusiasm and passion certainly came through from Caroline’s description and Vidar said that dance and ballet would be a ‘no, no’ without the audio description. 

Vidar ended his review by agreeing with Toby that Matthew Bourne’s Nutcracker! Is a great dance production for all the family.

Matthew Bourne’s Nutcracker continues on tour until the end of April and for full details of the tour including dates of audio described performances do visit the New Adventures website -

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