The company’s latest production the Midnight Bell, which premiered in 2021, comes to Salford for the first time as part of a UK tour. And while it might not have such an immediately well-known story, this show has all the emotion, spectacle and top quality dance fans of Bourne have come to expect.

The title is taken from one of Patrick Hamilton’s early novels, but this is not a straightforward adaptation. Instead, Bourne has taken inspiration from Hamilton’s wider body of work to create a piece that captures the essence of the 1930’s London captured in his writing.

In this respect, it doesn’t matter if you are familiar with Hamiliton’s work or not, because rather than retell one story Bourne chooses characters and scenarios from several novels and weaves them together with characters and scenarios of his own creation, into a series of vignettes linked by the Midnight Bell pub. Through these snapshots we are drawn into the relationships and dreams of the pub’s regulars and employees.

Credit here goes to the whole team, choreographer, designers and cast for an utterly absorbing experience that draws us into this world of 1930s Soho and Fitzrovia with its array of distinctly complex characters and relationships. Although there is no linear narrative the storytelling is captivating through its atmospheric evocation and detailed characterisations. Lez Brotherston’s sets fill the breadth and depth of the Lowry’s huge Lyric stage, switching scenes with a seamless filmic quality. Terry Davies musical score adds to the feel of silent movie nostaligia, including some songs from the 1930s, which the dancers mime to.

Here the cast are described as actor/dancers, and rightly so – this piece works because we both recognise and believe the situations being played out. The wide age range of characters allows scope for both the company’s most experienced dancers like Dominic North to perform alongside rising stars like Hannah Kremer – a real treat for audiences who have followed the company for years.

The themes of loneliness and search for connection that grew out of the Covid pandemic from which the production emerged still weigh heavy. But Dominic North tops and tails the evening with such lightness he provides the beer goggles to the bleakness of the romantic characterisations. And as the audience we have the best people watching seat in the bar, where it seems the search for love and connection in the 1930s was no less elusive than today, and certainly no less fascinating.

Matthew Bourne’s the Midnight Bell is at Lowry, Salford from 1-5 July 2025. Age guidance 14+

The post Matthew Bourne’s the Midnight Bell: Review appeared first on Quays Life.

So says, Sir Matthew Bourne in his impressively well-attended post-show chat. Judging by the turnout for this Tuesday evening performance of his adaptation of Powell and Pressberger’s 1948 film, he’s doing rather well in that respect.

Bourne has choreographed to music largely composed by Bernard Herrmann, cleverly lifting and adapting from the scores of classic movies such as Fahrenheit 451, The Ghost and Mrs Muir, even Citizen Kane. Original compositions by Terry Davies have been deftly interwoven with these, to create an atmosphere of period romance and cinemascope high drama.

The great ballet impressario, Boris Lermontov, is relaxing at a rather swish after-show party. Two young and aspiring artists – one a composer, Julian Craster, the other a dancer, Victoria Page – are desperate to impress him. Despite the competitive friction between the two young people, each desperate to steal the other’s thunder, Lermontov offers both a chance.

Having successfully auditioned for the corps de ballet, Victoria continues to catch Lermontov’s eye and, when prima ballerina, Irina Boronskaya, twists her ankle, it is the new girl who is offered the chance to step into the limelight. She does not, however, step into La Boronskaya’s shoes, instead being presented with a pair of red dancing slippers – the fateful red shoes of the title.

The new ballet in which Victoria debuts, is called “The Red Shoes” (the show within a show aspect). It is presented against a striking, animated monochrome backdrop – beautiful, if occasionally dizzying, work by projection designer, Duncan McLean.

As their careers take flight, so does the bond between Julian and Victoria, their early disputes being replaced by mutual attraction and love. When Lermontov catches them in a passionate embrace after the curtain falls, he is consumed with jealousy.

Banished by Lermontov, Julian and Victoria find themselves eeking out a living by working in music hall – he plays the piano, while she is reduced to being a balletic prop in a strong men act. (Fans of music hall ventriloquists, and sand dancing duo, Wilson and Kepple will be delighted – sadly, no sign of Betty, as yet.)

In a split stage, we move from the tormented Lermontov – tortured by the absence of his young prima ballerina – to the disintegrating relationship of Victoria and Julian. These two episodes show Bourne at his finest: the choreographic narrative is clear without being overly explanatory, allowing his excellent dancers to exemplify his claim that they are ‘strong actors as well as performers’.

Deserting her lover, Victoria returns to Lermontov, donning once more the fatally seductive red shoes. It all ends tragically (if perhaps a little too abruptly). Hans Christian Andersen eat your heart out.

If the first half of this show is three star fare (lively and interesting, but never quite captivating), the second act is undeniably five star. Lez Brotherston’s set features a remarkable rotating proscenium arch, which skates around and among the dancers, providing a memorable contribution to the choreography.

Ashley Shaw reprises to the role of Victoria, persuasively carrying us through her changing moods – winningly ambitious ingenue, triumphant artiste, passionate and heartbroken lover, hopeless and fatally obsessive dancer.

Michela Meazza is imperious as the temperamental Irina, by turn funny, furious and fabulous.

Adam Cooper’s return to the company as Lermontov is on its own, to coin a phrase, worth the ticket price. His brief solo, clad in a scarlet smoking jacket, pounds with emotion without sacrificing his razor sharp technique. Truly marvellous.

Matthew Bourne’s The Red Shoes is at The Lowry, Salford Quays from 26-30 November 2019.

Read our interview with Matthew Bourne about The Red Shoes.

The post Matthew Bourne’s The Red Shoes: Dance Review appeared first on Quays Life.

The Red Shoes is one of the first movies which brought the world of dance to the big screen and it is a film which has played a big part in the life of Matthew Bourne.

Opening his eyes to the genre when he was young, it was a story that the multi-award-winning choreographer had always wanted to bring to life.

He first brought it to the stage in 2016 where it won two Olivier Awards plus proved incredibly popular generating tremendous audience acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic, and now Matthew and his New Adventures company are taking the production back out on tour again.

Matthew recalled first seeing the film which was released back in 1948 is something which deeply inspired him. He explained: “The Red Shoes is considered by many people to be one of the most important and beautiful films ever made in the way the camera was used and the way it captured dance on film for many people for the first time. It is very influential and I saw it when I was very young. I didn’t really know anything about that world as I was more into musical theatre and film musicals. My parents didn’t go to the ballet.

“It was an introduction to an extraordinary world which was glamorous and eccentric and full of these larger-than-life characters. It was also this great story about people who spend their lives being creative, creating beautiful things and the passion they have to do that.”

Years later, Matthew decided The Red Shoes was a perfect piece to add his creative magic to. It tells the story of Victoria Page who loves to dance and has a fierce ambition to be the best she can be in her profession but this drive finds her at the centre of an emotional tug of war between the two men who inspire her.

For Matthew, it is about so much more than just dance. Although it features a showpiece ballet sequence, it was also about capturing Victoria’s complex professional and personal life without words. “It was a challenge to tell the whole story of the human characters and the central love story and conflict. All those things have to be told through dance. It is bringing these things to a different medium. The larger-than-life emotions in The Red Shoes are good for dance. You are already on to a winner with those obsessive relationships and passion and conflict,” he said.

The music was also important to help bring out these themes and Matthew turned to Bernard Herrmann who composed the score to many Alfred Hitchcock movies as well as the likes of Citizen Kane and Fahrenheit 451. Matthew explained: “I found a lot of music in his back catalogue which was written for different films and which could be used to tell different aspects of the story.

“You have three areas of storytelling in The Red Shoes. You have the ballets the company performs, you have the life of the company and the life of the places they go and their atmosphere, and then you have the central love story and conflict between the girl who wants to be a great dancer and the impresario who wants her to devote her whole life to that and the young composer she falls in love with.”

While the love and passion remain at its core, Matthew believes it also tackles some very meaty themes and how a combination of ambition, hard work and talent is not enough on its own to be at the top of your profession. “It is also not just about being famous. It is about the passion for the work. For these characters, the work is more important than anything else in their lives.

“There is also the conflict between having those sorts of passions and that work ethic against a relationship of some kind. That became a very universal thing about this story for our audiences and a story that resonated beyond the dance world.
“A lot of people have that conflict in their lives between work and the relationships they are having whether it is their partners or other family members or their friends. I think that is where people can relate to this story.”Bringing The Red Shoes to life will be a strong company which includes a host of names well known to followers of the work of Matthew and New Adventures including Dominic North, Liam Mower, Ashley Shaw and Cordelia Braithwaite.

Matthew is also reuniting with Adam Cooper for the first time in over 20 years which he calls “major event in New Adventures history.” Adam famously created the role of The Swan is Matthew’s 1995 production of Swan Lake. “Adam’s role as The Swan is iconic and he is an inspirational figure for many of my dancers and many aspiring dancers. We’ve talked many times over the years about working together again but nothing quite worked out so I am utterly thrilled to have finally managed to persuade him to come home to his New Adventures family in the perfect role of Boris Lermontov, another iconic role that I’m sure he will make all his own,” said Matthew.

It also pays homage to the iconic film while creating something quite different. He said: “We did not just want to ape something that came before. We want to capture the essence, the spirit and almost the perfume of this film. It is a spellbinding piece and does that in your own way and find new ways of doing it. It tells the story in a uniquely theatrical way.”

Those cinematic sweeps that Matthew’s work is known for are there but it also maintains its theatricality in a number of ways including a proscenium arch which moves around the stage almost as if it is a character or dancer in its own right.
And he is keen to ensure the company get the mood, character and feel of the period exactly right particularly as it is very far away from day-to-day life now. He said: “They really have to do their research as it can be quite difficult for the young people of today to capture that era. The manners, the way the people are, their eccentricities and their concerns are all very different.”

Equally Matthew is still fuelled, buoyed and enthused by this production along with Swan Lake which is touring the world and cinematic screenings of Romeo and Juliet which saw members of his company perform alongside the dance talent of tomorrow. He said: “Through those productions, we have introduced a very exciting range of new young talent to the country. I am really excited about that. Romeo and Juliet gave a lot of opportunities to develop younger members of my company to take on bigger roles and that is really serving as well now and will do for the future. The new talent is off the chart.”

Matthew Bourne’s The Red Shoes is at The Lowry, Salford Quays from 26-30 November 2019.

Matthew Bourne shares the passion behind his explosive new Romeo and Juliet.

Matthew Bourne talks about re-staging his iconic Swan Lake.

The post Matthew Bourne – ‘My parents didn’t go to the ballet’ appeared first on Quays Life.

Inside the Verona Institute, a curved white-tiled wall, with separate entrances for ‘Boys’ and ‘Girls’. Hugging the set – which is on two levels – the chain-linked fencing, barbed wire and barred steel gates of the forbidding location. Is it a secure hospital? A detention centre for young offenders? Some kind of psychiatric clinic for troubled teens? Is it, perhaps some kind of experiment in social control (as Bourne himself speculates in his post-show talk)?

The young inmates are controlled by a combination of exercise, group therapy and prescribed medication. They are also controlled by some scary guards. One of these, Tybalt (Dan Wright), is a corrupt and bullying abuser. Stepping in to try to protect one of the other girls, young Juliet (Cordelia Braithwaite) herself becomes the victim. A brutal, though thankfully not explicit, pas de deux leaves us in little doubt of the price she has to pay.

A new arrival, Romeo (Paris Fitzpatrick), the twitching, naive son of Senator Montague and his wife, is briefly tormented by some of the other boys, who strip him of his own clothes before dressing him in the white of the institute’s inmates. Were he in any doubt, his parents’ chilly farewells tell him he’s here to stay.

Verona Institute’s chaplain, the Reverend Bernadette Laurence (Daisy May Kemp) puts on a polite dance event for the boys and girls (think West Side Story). Needless to say, when the reverend leaves the hall, the fun really starts. With raunchy grappling going on all around them, Romeo’s eyes meet Juliet’s. Love at first sight.

An angry, jealous Tybalt breaks up the party, his rage only kept in check by the return of Rev. Laurence.

Then follows the most beautiful section of the piece, as the two lovers, finally alone, cavort up, down and across the set, somehow managing to maintain lip contact through a variety of contortions, twists and turns. There is a wonderful sense of the delight of discovery in the choreography; a dizzying, rushing passion and surprise at new found happiness. It’s difficult to watch without smiling.

Back in their separate dorms, Romeo and Juliet are teased without mercy. Nevertheless, their friends soon lead them out into a gentle ‘marriage’ ceremony.  Of course, the serenity can’t last. A drunken Tybalt intervenes – mad with jealousy and seeming heartbreak. This time, the consequences are fatal, for himself and young Mercutio (whose boyfriend, Balthasar, is inconsolable).

The Institute’s response to this mayhem is to up the meds and, post-interval, Prokoviev’s music (cleverly adapted by Terry Davies, and here played live by a 15-strong orchestra) slows for a danse macabre (imagine ‘Thriller’ on heavy tranquilisers).

The straitjacketed Romeo and his Juliet find their way back to each other (with a little help from Rev. Laurence) but the ghost of Tybalt and cold body of Mercutio come between them and happiness. It all ends rather gorily.

Although the storytelling can get a little fussy and muddled (Does Tybalt really need some kind of brain tumour to be evil? Is Juliet in a co-dependent relationship with her abuser?) there is, as always, much to enjoy and admire in Bourne’s re-imaginings.

The two young principals are heart-winners. That first kiss pas de deux is something to treasure.

The thinking behind the project – to involve young artists throughout the project – is admirable and effective. Tonight’s show features six young dancers from Salford, and young associate artists are involved in every aspect of the production.

There is a slight risk of bathos in the finale, but that, it could be argued, is Will’s fault, not Matthew’s.

If you’re a fan of Matthew Bourne, you’ll love it.

Matthew Bourne’s Romeo and Juliet is at The Lowry, Salford Quays from 2019.

Read our interview with Matthew Bourne about making Romeo and Juliet.

The post Matthew Bourne’s Romeo and Juliet, Dance Review appeared first on Quays Life.

He talks to Quays Life about his dance interpretation of Shakespeare’s timeless romantic tragedy.

Shakespeare’s classic tale of star cross’d lovers has inspired the creative community for generations. The tragic and passionate love story set against the conflict of two divided families has spawned countless plays, musicals, operas and songs.

For choreographer Matthew Bourne his interpretation in dance was inspired as much by who he would work with on the ballet as the original narrative. “I avoided doing it for years as I think it was something everyone expected me to do and it had been done in so many different ways in so many different mediums,” he explains. “I thought it would be hard to find a new way into it which is something I always search for.

“The thing that really made me want to do it was the opportunity to work with young people. It is a story about them and young love. I got even more excited when it was suggested we cast it with young people and work with young creative associates in all the different departments of the show alongside my usual world-class team. It is all about nurturing them and telling the story.”

The strong themes that run through Shakespeare’s famous plot make it a natural fit for choreographic expression. “Dance is very good at extreme emotions, and Romeo and Juliet as a story is certainly full of those,” says Matthew. “It has passion, love against the odds, and several extremes of murder and violence. It is all those big emotions. Shakespeare captured it very well. Young people are very hot-headed and react very quickly to things.

“One thing I have tried to bring out is that when young people first fall in love and feel that passion, they really go overboard in many ways. I often think about how classical ballet handles this and how the young girl gets very excited by a kiss on the cheek. Young people today, if they are into each other, are kissing until their mouths are sore. I have tried to capture that intensity.

“It is also set a little way into the future, but it is not futuristic. It is a time when society is frowning on young people having an excess of feeling and emotion which sends them off on the wrong tracks as far as society is concerned. I got the idea from Arthur Laurents, the co-creator of West Side Story, who was asked why the young people in it are violent and act the way they do? He said they have too much feeling and they need to find a way to release it. I thought that was an interesting way into the story and very true. It made me go in the direction I went in.”

One of the UK’s best-known directors and choreographers, Matthew has been creating dance for over 30 years for musicals, theatre and film as well as his own New Adventures company which boasts a list of hugely successful productions including the iconic Swan Lake, Edward Scissorhands, Red Shoes and Play Without Words.

For Romeo and Juliet, Matthew has once again gathered his trusted creative team around him including associate artistic director, Etta Murfitt, set and costume designer, Lez Brotherston and lighting designer, Paule Constable to add their skill, knowledge and talent to the production to both cushion and push him as he brings his interpretation of the Bard’s work to life. Matthew says: “They know me well enough to question me on what we are doing, whether it works, and they will suggest things too. Sometimes a new creative team are a bit nervous about coming forward with their suggestions when they are working with someone like me who has been in the business for a long time. It is nice to work with a team who don’t have a problem with that.”

Part of the team is the composer, Terry Davies, another long-term collaborator of Matthew’s who had the job of adapting Prokofiev’s music for this production. “We nervously went to the Prokofiev Estate and asked them if we could do a new arrangement,” says Matthew. “While it is wonderful and big and lush for big opera-house productions and suits that style of production, I wanted something a bit more earthy and a bit more quirky. It would be very faithful to it and it is only 15 musicians who multi-task and play lots of different instruments. It is quite rare for us to take an orchestra out on tour with us. It is sounding wonderful and I hope the Prokofiev Estate are happy. It is a very recognisable score and that is really the script that we work with.”

Featuring and engaging with young people is as key to this production as the warring Montagues and Capulets. At each venue, six fast-emerging dancers (three male and three female) will perform on stage alongside the professional company. After a series of auditions around the country, this highly-talented half-dozen were chosen to be part of a world premiere tour surrounded by the professional company. “They are an integral part of the show. They are not token appearances. They’re part of the main company,” he said.

In addition, a team of young associates have been appointed to work within each creative arm of the project including lighting, sound, orchestration and costume. It is happening with the choreography too, with Matthew being joined by Arielle Smith. “She is wonderful. Not     only is she a great up and coming talent but I get on with her very well.  We have a laugh. With such an enormous age difference between us of around 30 years, she is like a mate and she is incredibly mature for her years in terms of the way she has handled the whole process and there is a lot of her and her work in it. She is not standing by my side watching me work. She is taking rehearsals, creating movement for the show and she has been great. I hear from the other creatives that they are enjoying working with their associates as well. We have all been getting together and thriving with this opportunity,” he said.

It is a similar model to the Lord of the Flies tour where Matthew and his team gave the opportunity for young men who were interested in dance to be part of the professional production alongside his New Adventures company of professional performers which has generated its own success stories. Three of the young Lord of the Flies were cast for Romeo and Juliet, while others are part of his Swan Lake 2019 company. “They have gone through several programmes that we have to nurture young British-trained dancers. We are very proud of those young guys and we hope that this time we will bring some women into the fray that we have nurtured so there will be even more people who started in Lord of the Flies or Romeo and Juliet that will hopefully come back into the company,” said Matthew.

And with four major productions this year plus a Special Award at the Olivier’s for services to dance, 2019 is proving to be quite a year for Matthew. “It has been amazing,” he says. “Swan Lake coming back is always a thrill because it does introduce so many more people to dance and to our company. It always has an incredible effect on audiences around the country and our casts are so devoted to it.

“In the middle of all that, getting the Olivier Special Award right in the middle of creating a new show was rather good because the award can feel a bit like it is the end of your career and people are saying ‘Thank you, Please Stop.’ It felt great to be in the middle of a new creation like Romeo and Juliet. It was about the past and about the future at the same time.”

And for Matthew and all his team, their passion and excitement for Romeo and Juliet is every bit as strong as that which binds Shakespeare’s young characters at the heart of this explosive production. He adds: “What started out as being quite a scary project involving so much untested talent and young people that I didn’t know very well has ended up being rather an exciting new show.”

For full tour details visit new-adventures.net

Read our review of Matthew Bourne’s Romeo and Juliet at The Lowry.

Matthew Bourne talks about his iconic interpretation of Swan Lake.

The post Matthew Bourne shares the passion behind his explosive new Romeo and Juliet appeared first on Quays Life.

That audiences are keen to see Swan Lake is not surprising, Tchaikovsky’s classic has been enchanting ballet fans for almost 140 years. However, Matthew Bourne’s imaginative interpretation is Swan Lake, but not as you know it. If you imagine there are two ways to view swans. One as delicate creatures, gliding gracefully across a lake; the other as wild, powerful birds with the strength to break your arm if they wanted to – Matthew Bourne’s sees them as the latter.

Here the traditional corps de ballet is replaced by a male bevy of swans – bare-chested dancers whose muscles are visible expressions of their strength. Like swans, they hiss and flap – sometimes playfully, but always wild. And although this scene is no longer the surprise it was to early audiences when it premiered in 1995, it is still a striking and enduring image.

Choreographer, Sir Matthew Bourne and designer, Lez Brotherston have re-worked this production for the 21st century. It feels fresh and energised, but it also very-much the same impactful production, that has become a classic in its own right.

In this fairy-tale land all the surroundings are exaggerated and over-sized, while the costumes and movements are pinch-perfect tight. Dominic North’s precision and poise make him the perfect Prince. Regular New Adventures audiences will recognise him as he has been with the company for 14-years and danced many of its leading roles, bringing a strong acting quality to his dance that pulls us further into his inner-struggle.

Dancing opposite him, Will Bozier makes a towering and impressive swan. And he positively sizzles in his leather pants as the stranger (manipulative black swan), seducing every woman in sight, and the Prince, at the Royal Ball.

Alongside this electric passion and high drama, there is also humour in this royal household. A wheeled corgi delights, there’s a cheeky real-life David-esq statue, lively dancing in Swank bar, and a brilliant comic scene with the Queen (Katrina Lyndon) and Prince’s socialite girlfriend (Carrie Willis) in the royal box, challenging royal protocol and the audience’s snobbery. Young princes falling out of clubs worse for wear and being caught by the paparazzi doesn’t have the same relevance now our young Princes have grown, but it still makes for fun viewing.

It’s all atmospherically lit by lighting designer, Paule Constable, who makes good use of projection for the swans in flight and makes Lez Brotherston’s expansive lake shimmer under a full moon.

After 23 years the vibrancy of this once revolutionary production is as mesmerising as ever.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake is at The Lowry Theatre, Salford Quays from 20 November to 1 December 2018. Visit website for full tour details.

Read our interview with Matthew Bourne about re-staging his iconic Swan Lake.

The post Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake from New Adventures at The Lowry, Salford Quays, Dance Review appeared first on Quays Life.

You first staged Swan Lake in 1995, and it went on to become the longest running ballet on the West End and Broadway. It is still now, perhaps your best-known and best-loved of work. With all of its success and rich history, how do you feel about the prospect of bringing it back to UK audiences for the upcoming 2018/19 tour?

It’s always exciting to bring back Swan Lake. So many people love it, and you know they’re going to want to come and see it again and bring friends and family to watch it who didn’t see it last time. That is the growth of the show over the years I think – the fact that people want other people to come and see it.

There’s also a whole new generation of young people who won’t have seen it. We know, even from discussions with the cast we have at the moment, how inspiring this piece can be for young people who see the piece and then want to go on to a career in theatre, or particularly dance. Many of the men in the show, and in fact the women too, first came to dance through this piece having been taken to see it by their parents, or perhaps by their dance school, and now they’re in it themselves.

It still seems to move and inspire people and therefore we get excited about doing it because that’s what we’re here for. We’re here to entertain.

The new staging of the show is being presented as having a fresh look for the 21st century. Why did you decide to re-stage the show now; and as the show has been seen by millions of people worldwide over the years is it a bigger challenge to revisit this work than other shows in your repertoire because audiences are so passionate about it and know it so well?

It’s an interesting point about changing a piece that is so well-known and so well-loved. We’ve made these changes for several reasons – one being that it’s been around for 23 years now since we first made the piece, and Lez Brotherston (Set & Costume Design) and I felt it was a great opportunity to refresh it. I wouldn’t say we’re changing it enormously but refreshing it for this next period of time. It may change again in the future, who knows, but I think whilst we’re still excited about the piece and we feel we’ve got this opportunity, so it seems a great chance to do it.

Everything we’ve done to the piece has been mindful of the fact that people already love the piece – and that’s not different from many other projects that I’ve taken on actually.

For many people seeing the new version of Swan Lake they probably won’t recognise many of the changes we’ve made, and I think they will feel they are still seeing the same piece. We will know however, that we’ve made hundreds of little changes. It won’t be such big changes that people will think ‘oh what did you do that for?’ or ‘why did you lose that great idea?’. Maybe there will be one or two things that big fans of the show will miss, but I think generally speaking we’re celebrating the piece that already exists.

We have a new lighting designer, Paule Constable, as one of our associates for the piece. Paule has never seen our Swan Lake before – not on film or on stage – so we’ll get a completely fresh approach from Paule and I don’t know what it will look like yet. It’s definitely going to look different, as Paule’s a different kind of designer, so that will be a big change.

We’ve got a completely new cast as well. There are lots of new dancers who will bring their own interpretations to the piece, as they do with all our shows and that keeps the pieces fresh and alive.

I certainly don’t think audiences who already love the piece will be in any way disappointed.

Adam Cooper played the original Swan/Stranger. His performance, perhaps more than any other within the last quarter of a century, seems to have instigated a huge rise in the number of boys and young men wanting to pursue dance as a career; and of course, this was reflected in the film, Billy Elliot. Will Bozier, who will be playing the Swan/Stranger in the new production himself credits Adam’s performance as being his inspiration to become a professional dancer. Were you surprised by the scale of the impact Swan Lake had on young dancers?

Obviously when we made Swan Lake we didn’t know that it would have the impact it’s had, but over the years I’ve come to realise that it’s been the trigger for a lot of boys and young men going into dance.

I think it felt like something very cool and very masculine, yet it required a lot of artistry and sensitivity, so it was that mixture of things, I think, that really inspired a lot of young men to want to get into dance and to want to be a Swan, which is borne out by every member of our cast virtually who grew up with this piece.

I find that a lovely aspect of the show now, as it’s so meaningful for the people in it. They really want to be in it and it’s their ambition to be in it. There aren’t many shows where you can you say that you’ve got an entire cast of people whose burning ambition it is to be in the piece, so you get a wonderful connection with the dancers and a wonderful sense of community.

You took Swan Lake in a completely different direction from the versions that had gone before it. What motivated and inspired you to do that; and why was it important to you to set this classical ballet in a more contemporary world and to invite people to view it from an alternative perspective?

Well, I didn’t see any point in creating a Swan Lake that was similar to any of the others that were around, because there were certainly a lot of those! Mostly they were classical versions – all a bit different but all telling a similar story – and so this version had to be different.

We’re not a classical company and we don’t dance ‘en pointe’ usually (well, we have from time to time since then, for example with The Red Shoes, but it certainly wasn’t something we were doing back then.)

We’re a contemporary dance theatre company, so we had to tell a story through movement, in a different way, and it needed a big idea to make people see it in a different way as well.

So, the male swans were the big idea and a secondary big idea was modern Royal scandal. This was in the news all the time whilst we were making the piece, with Diana and Charles, and Sarah Ferguson, and Camilla Parker-Bowles, and Princess Margaret. All of these stories were daily news during the making of the show. And so, it was very topical thing to have a Prince who couldn’t be the person he really was, or to be with the person he wanted to be with – all very relevant to contemporary Britain and contemporary Royalty. So, we’re still telling the same story – it’s still about a Royal family, but a modern Royal family.

I thought that would be picked up on quite a lot when the show first was first seen, but actually the attention was much more on the use of the male swans. It was such an iconic image for people to have a male dancing swan. It was very unexpected, and people couldn’t imagine it what it was going to look like. They all thought it was going to be a send-up and that it was going to be a humorous piece. There is a bit of humour in it but the main bulk of it isn’t. We needed an idea that could wipe away everyone’s existing memories and images in their heads of the piece, as they had perhaps seen it before in other versions, and the swans did that very well.

You list Alfred Hitchcock’s film from 1963, ‘The Birds’, as one of your inspirations for the staging and choreography of the show. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

Our production of Swan Lake is not a piece that has an enormous number of movies that are obviously attached to it, like some of our pieces do. This inspiration is much more coming from the classical ballet and the story that that tells and using those formalities sometimes in the way we tell our story and the structure of it. It is, as I’ve said, also about modern Royalty and the Royal family.

There’s also lots of little filmic things and characters that creep into it, as always, because my head is full of those images. However, the one piece, that people are usually surprised by initially and then they go, ‘oh yes of course!’ is the inspiration that has come from Alfred Hitchcock’s film, The Birds.

If people know this movie there’s an amazing scene where the main character, played by Tippi Hedren, is sitting on a park bench powdering her nose, and there’s a children’s playground with climbing frame in it behind her; and one bird swoops down onto it and she looks around and notices the bird. And then, the next time she lifts her compact mirror there’s a reflection in it and we see it’s now absolutely full of birds and they’re all waiting to fly at her.

We do this with the Swans on the bed and that’s a direct quote from The Birds. It’s the only story really where birds take over and attack the humans. It’s an extraordinary story that’s never explained and I think that’s rather good too; the fact that it just happens!

Could you tell us what you feel are the key themes of your version of Swan Lake; and what if anything is the most important message that you hoped to portray to the audience?

I don’t like to dictate too much to people because I feel people do see the piece in different ways, but for me ultimately it is about someone struggling with who they are and the world they are in – albeit quite an extraordinary world for how many people are Royal?! But even so, we can relate to that. We can all relate to an individual who in the society that they are in can’t really be who they really are.

I think the piece moves people because it has a message about looking for acceptance; but it also moves people because it’s about loss as well, and it’s about people that you’ve lost.

I feel those themes are very universal and very much things that touch all of us. It’s a very human piece and global – both in its message and in the way that it brings us all together.

I think it’s underestimated sometimes how far we’ve moved on with this piece in the time it’s been on. When we first started to do it, we had audiences walking out when the Prince and the Swan started dancing together. We had little girls in tears that it wasn’t performed with the tutus and pointe shoes, and things like that, that they were expecting. We also had a slightly aggressive attitude towards it from some members of the audience; and some people refused to come and see it at all.

It got dubbed ‘the gay Swan Lake’, which was not what the aim was, but it certainly was a story within it that was very meaningful for gay audiences, and I celebrate that. I did then, and I do now. It is a bit more wide-ranging than that too however, and it can really be interpreted in many ways.

It’s accepted now by a much wider audience who come to see the show and rather than be shocked any element of it, I think they find it uplifting that this is a story being told about a young man who is confused about his future and about his sexuality. I think that’s something that is very meaningful for young people in the audience as well.

Swan Lake is at The Lowry Theatre, Salford Quays from 20 November to 1 December 2018. Visit website for full tour details. Read our review at The Lowry.

The post Matthew Bourne talks about re-staging his iconic Swan Lake appeared first on Quays Life.

Fans of Matthew Bourne’s innovative New Adventures company have come to expect the unexpected; a winning mixture of dark reality and sparkling escapism. Yet, while it may at first seem a leftfield choice, as with all the company’s works, there is much thought, attention to detail and nods to swathes of artistic work that has gone before.

Although the original ballet was first premiered by the Bolshoi in 1946, Prokofiev wrote the score during the uncertainty and brutality of World War II. The war brought a very real sense of living for the moment, captured in the Cinderella story by the urgency of time as the clock strikes midnight. Nowhere was this escapism experienced more than in the dance-halls of every village, town and city, where couples jived to enter a different world, if just for a moment. In this sense, dance was not merely a pastime, it was essential for keeping up morale. At the same time, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers made the period the golden age of dance in the movies.

There are nods to all of this in Bourne’s complex weaving of history, myth and movies. The costumes, largely monochrome, are a mix of drab, utilitarian wartime clothing, service uniforms and glamorous Hollywood dresses. The largely monochrome look gives a sense of watching an old black-and-white film.

Bourne makes a special nod to Powell and Pressburger’s A Matter of Life and Death, re-imagining the Prince of the story as an injured RAF pilot, like David Niven’s character in the film. Referencing Astaire’s dancing angel, the Fairy Godmother becomes a silk-suited, guiding hand of fate. And there are glimpses of Brief Encounter in the final railway scene and Waterloo Bridge in a London Underground sequence.

Lez Brotherston’s dramatic sets are a genuine wonder in this piece, taking us on a journey through bombed tenements, glittering dance halls, lonely rooms overlooking St Paul’s Cathedral, and the danger of brawls along the Embankment.

Cinderella’s grand ball is transported to the famous Café de Paris, which was bombed on March 8, 1941, killing 34 and injuring many more. It is this incident which splits the lovers as Cinderella is taken away on a stretcher at the clock strikes 12.

There are some genuine touching moments, like when the Pilot (Will Bozier) salutes Cinderella’s father, an injured World War I veteran (Alan Vincent), as well as many scatterings of humour, such as the bizarre foot-fetish of Cinderella’s creepy step-brother (Andrew Monaghan).

It is all danced beautifully by the New Adventures’ cast, with Ashley Shaw, who originated the role of Vicky Page in Bourne’s The Red Shoes, leading as Cinderella with both delicacy and strength.

It is a visual feast, reminding us that life is never black and white, and there is always light in the dark.

Matthew Bourne’s Cinderella is at The Lowry from 13-17 March 2018.

The post Matthew Bourne’s Cinderella appeared first on Quays Life.