Matthew Bourne's NUTCRACKER! Postponed

New Adventures announced today that the forthcoming 2020/2021 National tour and the 2020/2021 Christmas season at Sadler's Wells of Matthew Bourne's Nutcracker! has been postponed until 2021/2022.

Recent events and the inevitable knock-on effect these have had to the production's schedule, coupled with the fact that the industry continues to wait for confirmation as to when theatres can reopen without social distancing has now made it impossible to mount this new production within this ever shortening time frame.

Matthew Bourne said today 'Today's announcement is heartbreaking for everyone in the New Adventures family. We love our loyal audiences throughout the UK and we feel a great sense of sadness that we will not get to perform for you on our annual tour at this time. This year would have seen our 18th consecutive Christmas season at Sadler's Wells with our sparkling new production of "Nutcracker!" I know that there was great anticipation to see this beloved show back after nine years but, alas, we must wait another year for a return trip to Sweetieland! In the meantime, we look forward to shortly announcing a series of adventurous plans, both on and off stage, for 2021 and we live for the day when the curtain rises again on a New Adventures show'.

Group Managing Director Robert Noble and Executive Director Imogen Kinchin said today 'This incredibly difficult decision has not been taken lightly. Since the start of lockdown back in March, we have been working extremely closely with both Sadler's Wells and our family of national touring venues to do all we can to keep to the current timetable. However, the business model cannot operate with social distancing in place and without clarification as to when social distancing will definitely be removed, and due to this lack of certainty we have to make this decision at this time'.

Artistic Director and CEO of Sadler's Wells Alistair Spalding said today 'It is with great sadness that we announce today that our shows scheduled until January 2021 cannot go ahead as planned, including Matthew Bourne's brilliant Nutcracker!. Matthew Bourne and New Adventures have been delighting Sadler's Wells audiences with their Christmas shows for 17 consecutive years, which have become one of the highlights of our annual programme. We have worked very closely with New Adventures and the other artists and companies in our programme to avoid this outcome, however continuing uncertainty surrounding coronavirus restrictions has forced us to make this decision, with artist, audience and colleague safety at its core. Though we can't share Nutcracker! with audiences this year, I'm very pleased to confirm that it will return to Sadler's Wells for our 2021/22 Christmas season'.

All patrons who have booked for the 2020/2021 National tour of Matthew Bourne's Nutcracker! do not need to do anything and will be contacted directly by their ticket provider to arrange a refund or credit voucher.

The 2021/2022 National tour dates for Matthew Bourne's Nutcracker! will be announced in due course.

All bookers with tickets for the 2020/21 Christmas season of the show at Sadler's Wells will be transferred into equivalent performances in the 2021/22 season. Bookers do not need to do anything at this point and should expect to receive an email from Sadler's Wells in the last week of September detailing their new booking information.

Matthew Bourne's Nutcracker! will now play at Sadler's Wells from 7 December 2021 - 30 January 2022.

Immediately following lockdown New Adventures launched REEL Adventures, a new strand of digital work, and in the past five months the company has worked hard to find new ways to bring their work to the wonderful and loyal audiences in the UK and across the globe on a range of digital platforms. The Festival of Classics season with Sky Arts brought three of their beloved shows into the homes of hundreds of fans, old and new; and for the first time they opened Company class to the public online welcoming over 6,000 participants across 16 weeks of classes. 146 clips of video content including panel discussions, cast and creatives Q&As and archive footage has been shared online attracting over 2.3 million views. To date 130,000 people have tuned into the Workshop Weekends, a weekly programme of creative family dance workshops, which included the DanceVenturers YouTube series aimed at children of primary school age.