Scottish Ballet Blogger's Event at The Blythswood Square Hotel: Hansel and Gretel

Last Saturday I was lucky enough to be invited along to the The Blythswood Square Hotel to a bloggers event by The Scottish Ballet who are currently performing Hansel and Gretel at the Theatre Royal in Glasgow. We had a great afternoon before being whisked off to see the performance.  Read on for a closer look at what happened on the day...


First when we arrived at the hotel, we were greeted with this gorgeous tree in the reception.

 The 5 star hotel is absolutely stunning, stylish and has several awards to it's name, including being vote one of the top 50 most amazing hotels in the world by The Sunday Times this year.
We were treated to fabulous cocktails on arrival before being shown a couple of short films in the hotel's cosy screening room which detailed the ideas behind the performance and showed the dancers rehearsing.

 Some of my lovely blogging buddies L-R, Eilidh, Jennifer and Linsay enjoying the festivities at the hotel.

 After the screenings we were taken into another room for a fabulous Hansel and Gretel themed afternoon tea, Ann, Christina and Fiona who were hosting made us feel really welcome and told us to tuck in and enjoy some mini hand and arm massages from the spa therapists.

There were gingerbread men, macaroons, cakes, scones, eclairs, sandwiches, marshmallows covered in chocolate and loads of other delights, of course not forgetting lashings of tea, coffee and water to wash everything down. It was delicious.  Rooms can be hired in the hotel for events if you fancy adding something special to your birthday, hen party, or event.

 Whilst we ate we were given the opportunity to have a question and answer session with two of the cast members of the ballet, Constance Devernay and Chris Harrison.

It was interesting to hear their thoughts about the production, how they approached their roles, and learn about their own backgrounds as dancers. We even got to ask about their costumes a couple of which were on show.

Above: The Sandman and Dew Drop fairy costumes.

Below: As a beauty and make up addict I was particularly interested in the dramatic MAC face charts and photographs of the make up used in the performance. Below are shots of The Witch.

Once afternoon tea was over we were whisked away to the theatre (with a bag of sweet treats to take with us) The performance was magical, I was mesmerised not only by the talent of the dancers onstage but of the amazing sets, I was totally transported to a fairytale enchanted forest for a couple of hours. This was a perfect way to spend a rainy Winter afternoon and it felt so Christmassy.

*** Scottish Ballet are hosting a live webcast on Wednesday 18th December at 4.30pm and you can check it out at www.scottishballet.co.uk/HGWebcast
You will get the chance to see behind the scenes live from the theatre and send in questions to the team to be answered during the webcast. Check out the link above for all the details ***

Above: The girls take their seats! And below... any excuse for a Scottish Blogger group selfie in the theatre mirror...!

Hansel and Gretel is running at the Theatre Royal until 28th December and then goes on tour to Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Inverness Newcastle and Belfast. Check out Scottish Ballet's website for dates.