NEWS: From Wythenshawe to the candy kingdom of Sweetieland. North West dancer Isaac Peter Bowry cast in Matthew Bourne's Nutcracker!

From Wythenshawe to the candy kingdom of Sweetieland. North West dancer Isaac Peter Bowry cast in Matthew Bourne's Nutcracker!

Heading to The Lowry from Tuesday 23 November to Saturday 4 December 2021

New Adventures have announced full casting and touring dates for the 30th Anniversary, newly designed and reimagined production of Matthew Bourne’s Nutcracker! The tour visits The Lowry from Tuesday 23 November to Saturday 4 December 2021.

Matthew Bourne's Nutcracker! features a cast of well-loved New Adventures stars along with many stars of the future.

Performing as one of the citizens of Sweetieland is North West dancer Isaac Peter Bowry.

When confirmed as a company member for Matthew Bourne's Nutcracker! Isaac wrote on Instagram: 

"I watched this production at The Lowry the last time it was toured & it was that evening I knew, I NEEDED to become a dancer!! 

Truly blessed to be performing this beautiful show and can't wait to share the stage with the super wonderful & talented cast. 

How am I so lucky???"

Earlier this year Isaac spoke to the Manchester Evening News about his career. As a teenager, he questioned if he could make it as a successful dancer. Growing up in Wythenshawe with an African Caribbean hairstyle and dual heritage made him fear he'd be rejected from the ballet profession. It was after he was awarded a place on The Lowry Centre for Advanced Training in Dance (CAT) scheme that his outlook on this changed and he now boasts careers highlights including Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake and Principal Dancer for Ballet Theatre UK & Chantry Dance Company. 

The confirmed company also includes Cordelia Braithwaite and Katrina Lyndon as Clara. Ashley Shaw and Monique Jonas as Princess Sugar. Harrison Dowzell will play the title role, along with Ben Brown and Reece Causton. Fritz will be played by Dominic North, James Lovell and Stephen Murray. Playing the formidable Dr Dross we have Neil Westmoreland, Reece Causton and Danny Reubens with his wife, Mrs Dross performed by Madelaine Brennan, Daisy May Kemp and Steph Billers.

The citizens of Sweetieland are performed by New Adventures’ dancers Jonathon Luke Baker, Benjamin Barlow Bazeley, Alistair Beattie, Isaac Peter Bowry, Kayla Collymore, Keenan Fletcher, Cameron Flynn, Rose Goddard, Shoko Ito, Harry Ondrak-Wright, Catrin Thomas and Bryony Wood. Making their debuts with New Adventures are Jade Copas, Jessica Crompton, Gabrielle de Souza, Kurumi Kamayachi and Rory Macleod. New Adventures are thrilled to announce and welcome their first Emerging Artist Apprentice, Enrique Ngbokota who joins the company having been supported and mentored by New Adventures throughout their third year of training. This apprenticeship is supported by The Archie Lloyd Charitable Foundation.

The sweetest of all Matthew Bourne’s treats returns for the first time ten years; it’s a Nutcracker! for all seasons. 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. Expect a sprinkling of delicious new surprises in this reinvented production for 2021.

Recipient of the 2019 Special Olivier Award, Sir Matthew Bourne and New Adventures have produced some of the most successful dance productions of the last three decades. A truly national, dance-theatre touring company and one of Britain’s leading exporters of dance internationally, their productions include Swan Lake, Cinderella, The Red Shoes, Edward Scissorhands the acclaimed re-imagining of Romeo and Juliet and the recent world premiere of The Midnight Bell.

New Adventures is a national portfolio organisation supported using public funds by Arts Council England.