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Northern Ballet announces 2027 tour of Claude-Michel Schönberg’s Wuthering Heights
Northern Ballet have also announced a new immersive The Nutcracker-inspired experience
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Martha Leebolt and Tobias Batley as Cathy and Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights. Photo Guy Farrow
Claude-Michel Schönberg’s Wuthering Heights
A ballet by David Nixon CBE
The Wuthering Heights tour will open in March 2027 at Leeds Grand Theatre before performances at Sheffield Lyceum Theatre, Nottingham Theatre Royal, London’s Sadler’s Wells, Norwich Theatre Royal and The Lowry in Salford throughout spring 2027.
Marking David Nixon CBE’s first creation for Northern Ballet during his tenure as Artistic Director (2001 - 2022), the ballet premiered in 2002 in Bradford, perfectly encapsulating the company’s Yorkshire pride and their celebrated storytelling style.
Adapted from Emily Brontë’s famous novel, this was also Nixon’s first collaboration with famed composer Claude-Michel Schönberg, a Golden Globe and Grammy award-winner best known for West End and Broadway hits Les Misérables and Miss Saigon.
Wuthering Heights has been the subject of many stage and screen adaptations, including 2026’s Emerald Fennell film starring Margot Robbie as Cathy. Nixon’s razor-sharp retelling gets to the heart of an untameable love story. Cathy and Heathcliff are inseparable as children but as their lives take different paths, their bond develops into a devastating force as unruly and dangerous as the Yorkshire Moors that surround them. Schönberg’s music and Nixon’s choreography set the stage to see Northern Ballet’s dancers at their dramatic best as they capture the spirit of Brontë’s headstrong Cathy and her love for the passionate, ruthless Heathcliff.
Artistic Director Federico Bonelli said: “Northern Ballet has a history of transforming classic novels into blockbuster ballets and Wuthering Heights is no exception. The combined might of David Nixon’s choreography and Claude-Michel Schönberg’s music is an unstoppable force of emotion which carries the audience through this tumultuous and ultimately tragic love story. We began our trio of Northern stories with a Jane Eyre revival in 2025 and Gentleman Jack in 2026, so it feels only fitting to bring back Wuthering Heights, a ballet I know is a fan favourite with many of our loyal audiences."
Nixon also designed the costumes for Wuthering Heights, which seamlessly blend with an atmospheric set design by Ali Allen and original lighting by David Grill, revival lighting by Alastair West. The creative team also includes Nixon’s long-time collaborator, dramaturge Patricia Doyle.
Wuthering Heights will be performed to recorded music. All venues will offer an audio-described performance to improve accessibility for those with visual impairments.
Tickets for Northern Ballet's Wuthering Heights will be on sale soon. For more information, visit northernballet.com/wuthering-heights
Clara & The Nutcracker
A new immersive ballet experience
This December, a Northern Ballet, 4Pi Productions, and Schwarzman Centre production Clara & The Nutcracker will premiere at the newly built Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities at the University of Oxford. Inspired by David Nixon’s The Nutcracker, a cornerstone of Northern Ballet’s repertoire, this fulldome experience will be a world-first immersive presentation of an interpretation of the company's iconic ballet, with former Northern Ballet dancer Gavin McCaig as movement director.
A 360-degree film captured on stage, in the studio and behind the scenes, Clara & The Nutcracker will feature Northern Ballet’s world-class dancers alongside richly animated fantasy scenes created by 4Pi and Tchaikovsky’s iconic score, performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra and delivered in surround audio.
Since 2020, Northern Ballet has invested in digital content and experimentation, including full-length captures and short films as well as research and development in immersive technologies. Through this partnership with 4Pi and the Schwarzman Centre, the company takes this to the next level in a theatrical event which will allow audiences to explore dance in a whole new way: up close, all around and beyond the stage. In the fulldome experience, shaped by humanities research at the University of Oxford with Professor Joanna Neilly and Professor Phillip Bullock, audiences will be seated in reclining chairs to enjoy a 30-minute 360-degree experience.
David Collins, Executive Director of Northern Ballet said: “We’re thrilled to be working with 4Pi and the Schwarzman Centre on Northern Ballet’s first fully immersive project. Taking inspiration from David Nixon’s The Nutcracker, Clara & The Nutcracker will allow even more audiences to experience the magic of this beloved story, as we continue to find new and innovative ways to bring ballet to as many people as possible."
Tickets for Clara & The Nutcracker will be on sale soon. For more information, visit northernballet.com/clara-and-the-nutcracker.