Interview: A (Nut)cracking Christmas for a marvellous mousey musical!

Clare Beresford on The Nutcracker, and its amazing progress from Wimbledon to the West End.

Last year was a huge success for Little Bulb Theatre Company, when their family show The Nutcracker, co-produced by Polka Theatre, became not only the best-selling Christmas show ever at Polka but was nominated for a coveted Olivier Award. This year the musical, mousey adventure goes from strength to strength, moving to the West End for a seasonal run at St Martin’s Theatre. We were delighted to squeak with Clare Beresford, Co-Artistic Director of Little Bulb, to find out how the mice feel about the move.

Hiya Clare. Well congratulations to you on your West End upgrade! How does it feel for a small but perfectly formed company like Little Bulb to be playing in the West End after years in fringe theatre?

Aw, that’s very kind, thank you! Well, it’s hugely exciting and a little surreal as it all happened quite fast in the end, but we got such lovely, warm responses from audiences last year that it feels really exciting to be getting the chance to share it again to even more people in a bigger theatre this time – and such an iconic theatre at that! To be playing crooner style singing mice in the beautiful old red velvet covered theatre that’s been home to The Mousetrap for so many decades is just too perfect! 

Has the show changed much in the move to a different venue? Can we still expect to see Sam Wilde’s amazing cardboard puppets and set?

Absolutely! And if anything, because we have to do rapid set changes around The Mousetrap, it’s actually had a bit of an upgrade this year as now there’s a solid wooden backdrop that Sam’s designed especially for St Martin’s which looks fantastic! We’ve also had to be more creative with all the cardboard boxes on stage for entrances and exits so, as well as being stood on, some of them can be crawled through, opened up and ultimately turned into Christmas presents. Also Sam’s amazing prop designs, like the brilliant light up cardboard car and cardboard spider costume, will be the same – and the cardboard cheese is even bigger this year!  

And is the same cast going to St Martin’s?

Yes, it’s the original Cheesy Five! And we’re chuffed to be back together as a band and heading to the West End!  We’re also joined by two incredible understudies who this year are Isabel Adomakoh Young and Rose Wardlaw.

What about the songs and music? Are they still crazily Christmassy?

They’re just as Christmassy! Before making The Nutcracker, none of our previous Christmas shows had actually ever mentioned Christmas, they’d more been based around winter and the seasons and hibernation, but for this show we decided to do the exact opposite, stuffing as many classic Christmas hits in it as possible, and this year is no different. 

And, fun fact (that perhaps only people who are super into the Christmas charts might spot), all the songs sung by the Mouse King are Christmas number ones.

You had huge success at Polka. Do you expect the audiences to be different at the new venue?

Well, yes and no. Yes, in the sense that they’ll both largely consist of families who are really excited about Christmas and some children for whom it will be their very first time going to the theatre, which is so special to be part of that experience! 

But perhaps no in the sense of locality and familiarity with theatre, as Polka has been specifically a children’s theatre for nearly 50 years, and because every aspect of it from the cafe to the foyer to the theatre itself is so perfectly made with children in mind. It has a very loyal audience, many local to South West London, that have grown up with it and who now take their own children, which is so lovely. Plus, they have a fantastic relationship with so many schools in the area, so last year there were lots of big school groups who are hilarious and brilliant fun to perform to as they’re full of energy and very vocal.

With St Martin’s being in the heart of London, with tourists and commuters coming in from all over London and the UK – and indeed the world – on a daily basis, I think there’ll be more people for whom it might be their first time in that theatre, or indeed seeing a show in the West End! And that’s really magical because I remember my own first theatre experience seeing a show in the West End – it was Starlight Express and it blew my mind (how could people sing AND rollerskate?!). There also might be people who decide to come on a whim after their Christmas shopping and in general I think it will be mainly families as opposed to school groups this year just because most of our shows fall in the Christmas holidays, which is really special – to be part of a family Christmas outing in central London. 

Also, St Martin’s has such an incredible history of its own, being the venue that hosts the longest running show in the world! So people also get to experience an incredible piece of theatre history in action (and perhaps some audiences visiting The Mousetrap might be intrigued by the other mouse-based antics going on in the theatre and decide to return!)

The Nutcracker is running until Sunday 4 January – will you need a hard earned rest afterwards or do you have other projects coming up next year?

Yes! So, you’re right that we will have a little break after the run, especially as this year we’re also very lucky to be running a show for younger children called Antarctica in Bristol. We’ll definitely need a rest come January! But I do really love Christmas and am always happy to be performing over the festive period. It is such a privilege being part of other people’s Christmasses and the show really aims to get people into the festive spirit, so being in central London, will all the decorations and music around that will feel even more the case than ever this year! 

After that though we’ll be starting to dip into the very first stages of some completely new projects, which is exciting, and then over spring and summer we’ll be taking our show Listen Dance (an interactive show with a live band where we invite people to try lots of different dance genres all in one night, including ceilidh, candy, mosh pit and disco etc) back on tour to festivals and venues around the UK, which we’re really thrilled to be doing again – it’s so uplifting to see people move their bodies so joyfully and freely and to dance together. In general we really love creating spaces for communal joy and celebration, which hopefully The Nutcracker does too!

Thanks very much to Clare for telling us about Little Bulb’s fabulous festive production.

The Nutcracker is suitable for ages 5+ and plays at St Martin’s Theatre from Wednesday 10 December to Sunday 4 January.