Where Alice In Wonderland meets the Moomin trolls – but in Norway – that’s where ‘Nocturne Musical’ exists. When 12 year old nature-lover Solveig goes into the forest in search of her lost cow she discovers a fairytale world of talking animals, magic, and a crisis of lost stories pooling into a darkness. With villains, cunning women, and faux heroes, ‘Nocturne Musical’ is an otherworldly wonder of personal strength and awakening autonomy, told with a beautiful soundtrack of original songs and dances rooted in Norwegian folklore.
There’s a rich magic at play here, as the trees move around within the woods we are disorientated along with Solveig – and also tempted in further with her. Characters are richly drawn and played, making what could have been a one-woman centred piece into a vivid world of an ensemble. Hedda Rustad Carlsen is not only central in her portrayal of Solveig, but also as composer and lyricists of the numerous songs that signpost the way through this eerie odyssey, and her strong soprano tone is perfect for the minor key melodies reminiscent of Scandinavian warmth and chills.
However, there are spaces plenty of other performance highlights. Saskia Douglas is a delicious Old Mother, bad-tempered and with so much wisdom it comes out as riddles to be solved by the younger others, stomping around with her own brand of help. While Em-J Smith is haunting as the ruthlessly beautiful Nøkken, whose insatiable hunger is threatening everything. With energetic and pumped with vitality songs and dances from delightful talking mice, a regally puppetted white bear, and an enjoyably inept hero it’s a world we are in for the 75 minutes, and every occupant, set, and movement is considered and contributing.
It’s a deliberately female-centric mythology, re-centring hero behaviour into a more considered nature-sympathetic and empathic route. No girl needs to wait to be rescued – in fact, they may well me the one doing the rescuing!
The ending is a little foggy, but that feels like the least of it. ‘Nocturne Musical’ has tapped into a fairytale wonder part of my brain and made it dance and laugh and sit rapt to see what would happen next. It’s a treat for children, of all sizes.
The Dance Space – The Jamie Watton Creation Space, 16-17 May 2026, 4 & 6pm, £12/10
