Dancer's a teddy boy twice over
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WE’RE in for a pretty contrasting view of up and coming young dancer Andrew Peasgood when Scottish Ballet’s Hansel & Gretel opens next week.
He’s juggling two roles that couldn’t be more different, so check your cast list carefully.
One night he’ll be channelling his inner child as fairytale hero Hansel – a wee boy in shorts dragging a teddy behind him.
The next he’ll be swaggering around as a Grease-style teddy boy in a black leather jacket as one of the witch’s henchman.
Though Hansel spends the whole show being bossed around by Gretel, he’s the one who makes the biggest effort to save them from the wicked witch.
But when he performs the role of the raven – the witch’s black bird sidekick – he’s the one who leads the innocent children into the forest.
But the contrast in characters suits Andrew fine.
Never afraid of a challenge, his first job after Royal Ballet School took him over to Alsace for two years and a dance company that allowed him to use his classical ballet training – but mixed in other dance genres too.
As a youngster, Andrew had spotted Gene Kelly’s dancing in Singing In The Rain and been inspired to think of dance as a career.
He’d already found himself at his sisters’ ballet invited to have a go at the back of the room to keep his noise levels down.
But for Hansel & Gretel, Andrew’s had to go back to that time and recall his own childhood to perfect his performance as the little boy who gives the evil witch her come-uppance.
“Once you get into the costumes for both Hansel and the raven it helps – but we’ve already had to do a lot of work in the rehearsal room getting into the right mindset long before that.
“Hansel is excited by everything around him, everything is magical to him – but he gets very scared of the ravens.
“Their characters are the opposite – you have to be physically imposing, being this tough guy swaggering around in a leather jacket at the start. We’re a bit like the flying monkeys in The Wizard Of Oz, going around doing the witch’s dirty work.”
But when Andrew’s being Hansel, he’s got more than his impulsive sister Gretel to keep an eye on – there’s the ever-present teddy.
“It’s a constant reminder to remember to act young.
“He’s with us the whole time – until the witch gets her hands on him...” Andrew said ominously. “But though what happens looks unpleasant at first, it turns out to be a lot of fun.
“When we’d done the initial shows had had a few days off, I did find myself looking around for him.
“But he’s getting in a lot of extra appearances in photos with some of the children who take part in the show at each venue!”
Hansel & Gretel created by Scottish Ballet artistic director Christopher Hampson is at Eden Court on Wednesday (Jan 22) until Saturday (January 25) .
