How to make a Christmas ballet hit: behind the scenes at Scottish Ballet’s Snow Queen

Ballet, like bread sauce and green chartreuse, is often just a Christmas thing and the UK’s national companies plan their schedules accordingly, surrendering to the cold fact that a Christmas hit can cross-subsidise less bankable sections of the repertoire. The Nutcracker is the safest choice — English National Ballet’s unbroken run began in 1950 when sugar rationing was still in force — but Christopher Hampson, director of Scottish Ballet since 2012, is committed to the ‘Five in Five’ programme that marks the company’s golden jubilee: five new full-length productions in five years.

Hampson’s The Snow Queen will be the second in the series and is touring with 57 performances, half of his company’s annual output. It will be a success: it has to be. ‘These winter productions cannot fail. That’s the business model of any ballet company. It’s so often an entry level not just for children but for adults too.