ENGLISH National Ballet’s acclaimed production of Nutcracker takes to the stage at Mayflower Theatre next week - and we’ve taken a sneak peek behind the scenes ahead of curtain up.

More than 100 dancers and musicians bring to life the Tchaikovsky score featuring the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy performed live by English National Ballet Philharmonic.

A total of 400 costumes have been made, that’s over 3,000 metres of fabric. There are 14 sugar plum fairy tutus, each adorned with 400 Swarovski decorations sewn on. Each one takes 128 hours to make. A total of 50 stones are used for each of 39 snowflake tutus as well as sequins and heat sealed crystal motifs to give the snowflakes their shimmer. A specialist costume prop maker has designed brogue style boots with a dummy blade attached concealing small wheels, so they can glide across stage as if ice skating.

On a sparkling Christmas Eve, Clara and her valiant Nutcracker take a hot air balloon ride across a frost-dusted Edwardian London to the glistening Land of Snow where the adventure really begins.

This year’s tour, which is in London over Christmas, continues the Company’s tradition of presenting a Nutcracker production every year since 1950, its founding year.

Limited tickets for the Southampton run, from Wednesday until December 2, are on sale from mayflower.org.uk or 023 8071 1811.