Tag: Acosta Danza

Posted on

York Theatre Royal to co-produce Arthur Miller’s Death Of A Salesman in first alliance with Glasgow Citizens Theatre in 2027

The poster image for York Theatre Royal’s co-production of Death Of A Salesman with Glasgow Citizens Theatre. Picture: FEAST

YORK Theatre Royal will present a major new revival of Arthur Miller’s Death Of A Salesman as the centrepiece of the new season.

In a first for the St Leonard’s Place theatre, the production will be co-produced with Glasgow’s Citizens Theatre.

Directed by Citizens Theatre artistic director Dominic Hill, Death Of A Salesman will open at York Theatre Royal on March 2 2027, preceded by previews from February 24, and will run until March 27 before transferring to Glasgow from April 7 to May 1 2027.

Richard Grassie’s image for Emma Rice Company’s revival of Tristant & Yseult

Miller’s heartbreaking story of the pursuit of wealth and popularity remains devastatingly relevant today. After 34 years on the road, Willy Loman returns home exhausted, having sacrificed everything in pursuit of success and recognition. Yet the American Dream seems always just out of reach.

When his career falters and the debts mount, Willy is lost in memories of the past as his family tries desperately to reconcile the man they love with the tragic consequences of his delusions.

In another co-production, York Theatre Royal will continue its creative collaboration with the Emma Rice Company and Nottingham Playhouse in a revival of Kneehigh and Emma Rice’s Tristan & Yseult. Last seen on stage in 2017,the production will be staged at York Theatre Royal from April 6 to 17 as part of a nationwide UK tour.

The artwork for John Godber’s new play This Is The Life, touring York Theatre Royal next January

Paul Crewes, York Theatre Royal’s chief executive officer, says: “We’re very excited about this upcoming season. Most notably, in a first for us, we will be working with our friends at Citizens Theatre in Glasgow on Arthur Miller’s modern classic Death Of A Salesman, directed by the fabulous Dominic Hill. This is a wonderful collaboration with a great theatre.

“Spring 2027 will also see us co-producing again with the Emma Rice Company and Nottingham Playhouse on a revival of Tristan & Yseult. I have such fond memories of originally producing this show with Emma when we were both at Kneehigh alongside Mike Shepherd. I can’t wait for York audiences to have the chance to finally see this production that successfully toured the world for many years.”

Paul continues: “These productions join the line-up of our other produced work already on sale, including our revival of Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad later this year with Amelia Bullmore as Penelope, our Youth Theatre production of Wendy And Peter Pan and the highlight of the festive season, our panto Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs.

The Penelopiad: Directed by York Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster this autumn

“Our dance programme also continues to be one of the most exciting in the north of England, with the return of London City Ballet, the world premiere of the latest show from Carlos Acosta and the Acosta Danza Company and Ben Duke’s Lost Dog coming to York for the first time. I hope we have given audiences plenty to look forward to with a range of classics, new work and family favourites on our stage.”

Dominic Hill, artistic director of Citizens Theatre, says: “I am delighted to be directing a new production of this brilliant Arthur Miller play that is one of the most influential works of the 20th century.

Lost Dog’s Juliet & Romeo, playing York Theatre Royal on November 20 and 21. Picture: Paul Blakemore

“It could not be more timely in the age of Donald Trump’s politics of greed and toxic masculinity. But Death Of A Salesman is also an ordinary working man’s story, as a family tries to wrestle with living up to expectation and forging their own path. I can’t wait to see the reaction from audiences in York and Glasgow to this new production.”

Other highlights include the UK premiere of Acosta Danza’s Cuban Baroque, in collaboration with York Theatre Royal, running from October 1 to 3. The visiting programme also includes the UK premiere of London City Ballet: Firebird – A Mixed Bill ( co-produced by York Theatre Royal, London City Ballet and Opera De Vichy) on September 18 and 19.

In a new touring production starring Jane Asher and Samantha Womack from November 10 to 14, Daisy Goodwin’s By Royal Appointment tells the story of Queen Elizabeth II’s life behind-the-scenes. Lost Dog’s dance-theatre duet Juliet And Romeo flips the story of Romeo And Juliet on its head, blending dance, comedy and theatre on November 20 and 21.

The poster artwork for By Royal Appointment, booked into York Theatre Royal for November 10 to 14

York Theatre Royal will welcome back a variety of York and Yorkshire companies in the upcoming season in the Studio, including York Actors Collective in The Strongbox (October 28 to 31) and Story Craft Theatre’s festive production of The Enormous Christmas Pudding (December 16 to 24).  

Wakefield’s John Godber Company will return with John Godber’s new play,  This Is The Life, from January 27 to 30 in the Main House, where York Light Opera Company will perform the Dolly Parton musical, 9 To 5 – The Musical, from February 4 to 13.

For the full programme and tickets, go to: https://www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk/. Box office: 01904 623568.

Acosta Danza in Carlos Acosta’s Cuban Baroque, part of the dance programme at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Johan Persson
Posted on

REVIEW: Carlos Acosta’s Nutcracker In Havana, Grand Opera House, York, 2.30pm and 7.30pm today ***

Let it snow, let it snow in Carlos Acosta’s Nutcracker In Havana. Picture: Snow Johan Persson

THE storm-swelled waters were beginning to recede but the barrier was still in place on the Kings Arms’ door on King’s Staith on Friday night: a weather hazard of the York riverside down the flooded centuries.

That same night – after Wednesday and Thursday’s performances fell foul to cast illness – it was snowing in Havana in Carlos Acosta’s relocation of The Nutcracker to modern-day Cuba.

Snow in Havana? Official records state the only time snow fell in Cuba was in February 1900 in the Sierra Maestra mountain range around Pico Turquino. Not even climate change might change that, but the power of theatrical imagination can.

Cuban-British dance luminary Carlos Acosta CBE, former Royal Ballet favourite, now director of Birmingham Royal Ballet, also directs Acosta Danza in his homeland, where he trained at the National Ballet School of Havana.

His Cuban company is on tour in the dreek UK from October 31 to February 11, turning up the heat on Tchaikovsky/Petipa/Ivanov’s Russian  ballet, premiered at the the Mariinsky Theatre,  in St Petersburg, Russia, in December 1892.

The story, characters, Christmas setting and transition from house to frosted winter wonderland remain the same, but from set and video designer Nina Dunn’s opening projections of Havana’s Spanish-colonial architecture to Angelo Alberto’s costume designs, from the lush green vegetation to composer and arranger Papa Gavilondo Peon’s Cuban re-boot of Tchaikovsky’s score, Acosta’s Nutcracker evokes Cuba as much as rum, cigars, vintage 1950s’ cars and the Buena Vista Social Club.

For all that Havana detail – even the flamboyantly moustached mask when the  Nutcracker comes alive – Acosta’s  choreography is essentially classical ballet, rather than modern, making it  the least Cuban transition in the show.

Alexander Varona’s mysterious, magical toymaker Drosselmeyer is the ringmaster, conducting Clara’s wide-eyed journey with sleight of hand and a toreador’s sense of dramatics, as familiar scenes play out in new ways, maybe restricted by the Grand Opera House’s narrow stage, but with humour in toys’ movements and enchantment too.

However, the spectacle (aside from the snowfall scene) and drama fall short of Northern Ballet’s celebrated Christmas staple at Leeds Grand Theatre  and  Act Two loses momentum.

Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Posted on

Carlos Acosta turns up the heat but still brings the snow to Nutcracker In Havana at Grand Opera House from Wednesday

Snow and frost envelop Cuba as Carlos Acosta reinvents Nutcracker in Havana. Picture: Johan Persson

UPDATE 27/1/2025. CAST illness has put paid to January 28 and 29’s performances. January 30 and 31 performances will go ahead.

DANCE superstar Carlos Acosta’s Nutcracker In Havana turns up the heat at the Grand Opera House, York, next week in his modern Cuban twist on the snow-dusted 1892 Russian festive ballet.

Giving a new spin to the Tchaikovsky/Petipa/Ivanov classic, built on Cuban composer Pepe Gavilondo’s arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s score,  Acosta moves the celebration of joy, life, love and family to the Cuban capital, where he was born – full name Carlos Yunior Acosta Quesada – on June 2 1973 and trained with the National School of Ballet.

More than 20 dancers from Acosta’s Havana-based company Acosta Danza perform the familiar story of a young girl transported to a magic world, but one newly incorporating the culture, history and music of his home country.

Acosta invites you to join Clara in her humble home in Havana as she prepares to celebrate Christmas with her family. The beer cans are on the tree and Cuba is suitably hot. When Clara is gifted a Nutcracker doll, she embarks on the journey of a lifetime, to defeat the Rat King and enter into the world of the Sugar Plum Fairy accompanied by her Nutcracker Prince, as Cuba collides with the Land of Sweets, bringing snow to Havana.

Now artistic director of Birmingham Royal Ballet too after retiring from a globe-travelling dance career that took in 17 years with the Royal Ballet in London, as well as English National Ballet, National Ballet of Cuba, Houston Ballet and American Ballet Theatre, Acosta has choreographed Carmen and Don Quixote previously and deemed The Nutcracker ripe for re-invention next.

Nutcracker In Havana choreographer Carlos Acosta

“I have performed so many versions of The Nutcracker and I think that putting it in Havana creates a production which is totally different from any other production out there,” he says. “This is not going to be a European feel, where you are in a Victorian mansion and everything is period; this is much more Cuba now,” he says.

“When we started to work on the show, I started to play in my mind that we could re-work the score to incorporate Cuban rhythms. That was going to be a significant change because the audience will hear Nutcracker and Tchaikovsky in a completely different light with conga rhythms, guaracha, son – the music of Havana.”

The Nutcracker is set amid the excitement and anticipation of a family party on Christmas Eve, but as a child growing up in Havana, Acosta was unable to take part in such festivities. “I wanted to give the Cuban people the Christmas they never had,” he says. “We started to celebrate Christmas from the coming to the island of Pope John Paul II in 1998 because before that Christmas was banned.”

Acosta’s production touches on the Cuban diaspora, the thousands of people who fled the island into exile. “The magician, the Drosselmeyer character, is the uncle who left to Miami 30 years ago and has now returned to Havana with lots of presents and then he brings this kind of magic with him,” he says.

Co-produced by Norwich Theatre and Acosta Danza’s production partner Valid Productions, Nutcracker In Havana aims to draw new audiences to dance. “The show has been created to tour beyond just the largest theatres to audiences in places that don’t normally get the benefit of having a Nutcracker,” says Acosta.

“I hope everyone will come. I hope this production pulls from different sectors of the population, from the Latin world, the classical world, the contemporary world, because it’s a melting pot of everything.

A scene from Carlos Acosta’s Nutcracker In Havana. Picture: Tristram Kenton

“There’s a lot of humour as well. It is different but it still does what The Nutcracker is supposed to do, which is fun and warm; it’s just a show about family and friends.”

Acosta’s production brings together video projection and set design by Nina Dunn, whose credits include Bonnie And Clyde, 9 to 5 The Musical and Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Don Quixote, complemented by  costumes by Angelo Alberto (Goyo Montero’s Imponderable and Raul Reinoso’s Satori with Acosta Danza and lighting by Andrew Exeter(Oti Mabuse: I Am Here, The Full Monty UK tour and Johannes Radebe: House of JoJo).

Norwich Theatre chief executive officer Stephen Crocker says: “At its heart, it is The Nutcracker story that you can expect with all of the magic and joy that goes with that. It is balletic at its core and it’s pushing the boundaries of ballet by bringing that Cuban feel into it.

“I’ve joked it’s the only Nutcracker I know where the corps de ballet becomes a conga line. It has a sense of fun and it’s also a spectacle – and theatre needs spectacle.

“It’s an intensely personal show to Carlos and it has been joyous to help him realise that. It’s a special moment for somebody whose career has been so ensconced in ballet and who has danced so many Nutcrackers in his life, and with him coming from Cuba there is real heart to this show.”

Carlos Acosta’s Nutcracker In Havana with Acosta Danza, Grand Opera House, York, now January 30 and 31, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

The poster for Carlos Acosta’s Nutcracker In Havana, on tour at Grand Opera House, York, from January 28 to 31