A toy comes to life: what sounds like a child’s wish can also be an unsettling prospect. When objects take on a life of their own, the familiar world loses its reliability. This uncertainty holds a possibility for ‘The Nutcracker’ that is easily obscured by its reputation as a Christmas ballet.
This is where Christian Spuck begins with his new version for Staatsballett Berlin. It premieres at Deutsche Oper Berlin on 27 November 2026. What has been announced is not a revival of his 2017 Zurich production, but new choreography for the Berlin company. The decisive shift in perspective is that the story is to emerge through Marie’s perception.
The uncanny in the nursery
E. T. A. Hoffmann’s tale ‘The Nutcracker and the Mouse King’, published in 1816, offers more than characters and plot for this approach. The Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin’s Hoffmann portal describes how everyday life and the fantastic overlap in menacing ways. Marie brings the toy to life through her imagination; her relationship with it also changes its meaning. Childhood imagination is not simply a refuge from reality here.
For a choreographer, this poses a concrete challenge: how can perception be danced? A body can recoil, hesitate, feel drawn towards something. But whether its surroundings are actually transformed or merely appear different is something theatre must negotiate through movement, space and music. The literary source opens up this uncertainty; a production must give it a form of its own.
In a conversation with Staatsballett Berlin, Spuck explains that he places Marie at the centre and sees Drosselmeier as more than a kindly godfather. He is also interested in Drosselmeier’s influence on her imagination. This shifts the balance: someone who opens up a world of wonders may also control the images through which another person moves.
One classic, several perspectives
John Neumeier’s ‘The Nutcracker’ demonstrates that Tchaikovsky’s music does not prescribe a single definitive stage narrative. His version, first performed in Frankfurt in 1971, is also in Hamburg Ballet’s programme this season. Here, the story begins not on Christmas Eve but on Marie’s twelfth birthday. Drosselmeier is a ballet master, his gift a pair of pointe shoes; the fantasy leads into the theatre.
Neumeier thus also turns the material into a story about the allure of ballet. His example challenges the idea that any departure from a supposedly familiar original is already a break with tradition. The very decision about which character takes centre stage and which world they enter changes the meaning of the music. The title alone does not determine which piece an audience will see.
Transformation as a challenge for the stage
In Berlin, Spuck is responsible for the choreography and direction, Claus Spahn for the libretto and dramaturgy. Rufus Didwiszus designs the set, Emma Ryott the costumes and Martin Gebhardt the lighting. Staatsballett Berlin dances to music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, with the orchestra and children’s chorus of Deutsche Oper Berlin also taking part.
Spuck envisages a space based on the principles of old scenic theatres: movable elements are intended to make transformations visibly happen. At the same time, he retains classical pointe work. This gives the project an intriguing tension: the body follows a highly ordered technique, while the world around it is allowed to lose its order.
Only the performance will reveal whether this produces a convincing perspective on Marie. Yet the question this new production raises extends beyond the Christmas repertoire: how can ballet tell stories of childhood without allowing its fears to disappear behind decorative enchantment?
Original reviewed by the editors · 30 October 2026
