The Royal Ballet: The Nutcracker

The Royal Ballet bring The Nutcracker to Storyhouse Cinema on Tuesday 1 December, a screening that runs about two hours and twenty minutes including an interval. It's a production choreographed by Peter Wright after Lev Ivanov, set to Tchaikovsky's orchestral score with period designs by Julia Trevelyan Oman. The story follows young Clara, who meets the mysterious magician Drosselmeyer and is whisked away into a world where toys come alive.

The cast features Mayara Magri as the Sugar Plum Fairy, Reece Clarke as the Prince, James Hay as Herr Drosselmeyer, Marianna Tsembenhoi as Clara, and Taисуке Nakao as Hans-Peter/The Nutcracker, with Charlotte Polit conducting. It's a production that stays close to the original scenario by Marius Petipa after E.T.A. Hoffmann, so you'll recognise the classic scenes and the music that's become so tied to the Christmas season.

The screening is part of Storyhouse's 'Stage & Exhibition on Screen' programme, which brings performances from the Royal Ballet & Opera, National Theatre Live and the Berliner Philharmoniker to the heart of Chester, and it also sits within the cinema's Christmas season. Storyhouse Cinema is Chester's only independent cinema, showing independent and international releases alongside blockbusters, cult classics, restorations and documentaries, with accessible screenings and family activities. The venue is right in the middle of the city's Christmas markets, where it stages its own festive pantomime alongside classic films and a seasonal menu of locally sourced food, mulled wine and mince pies.

Tickets are £19.05 for members and £21 for non-members, with under-16s at £14.55 (non-members £16) and a Young Storyhouse Card price of £14.55. The screening starts at 7:15pm on Tuesday 1 December.