Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures - Swan Lake returns to The Theatre Royal. After thirty years, has the ballet lost any of its charm?
It is now thirty years since Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake changed the world of ballet forever. High time then, that it returns to the Theatre Royal to delight audiences old and new.
And delight it does. From the opening sequence of the man-swan appearing dreamlike above the prince’s bed to the final tragic scenes.
Tchaikovsky’s original story has been melded, almost out of recognition, to a new storyline in keeping with the 21st century. The central figure is an unhappy and lonely prince, hemmed in by the unyielding rituals and routines of palace life. His mother, in this production not unlike a Princess Margaret, is distant. Perhaps this is why the prince harbours discomforting feelings towards her. Into this soup of repressed emotions, a party girl crashes the palace and makes a play for the most eligible bachelor in the kingdom. But she is way in over her head, woefully ignorant of protocol and decorum. Cue a lot of funny moments here, as the royal entourage watch a ballet within a ballet, and she shows everyone up hilariously. In this sequence, among the many things of note, the costumes of the tree sprites are superbly unreal.
Later, the prince shadows the party girl to a night club, (while being shadowed himself). And inside the club there is an amazing homage to Bob Fosse’s The Rich Man's Frug as seen in the movie Sweet Charity. Groovy!
every woman in the palace yearns for him
While at the club, things go horribly wrong and the prince reaches his lowest ebb. This proves a turning point, courtesy of a billboard advertising Swan Vesta matches, pushing the prince into the world of swans. Male swans, naturally. Long dance routines follow when the stage is crammed with heaving manly torsos. Has the prince found fulfilment in the wings of the swan alpha?
In the second act, things go from bad to worse. Another gatecrasher, the stranger, burns through the elite like a hot knife in butter. Dressed in black leather, wielding a whip, cruel yet strikingly handsome, it seems every woman in the palace yearns for him. Even the Queen. But the prince recognises the stranger as the swan, his true love, somehow transformed into a human body.
Is the stranger the swan? Certainly, both roles are played by the same actor. And yet in human form the stranger teases but ultimately rejects the prince, in preference for the belles of the ball. So, all a bit confusing from a sexual identity perspective. You only love me when you’re in feathers, so to speak.
And on the plot builds to its heartbreaking climax. Plenty of tears in the stalls. And a standing ovation. Tickets are going fast, but if groundbreaking modern ballet is your bag, make sure you see this.
Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake plays at the Theatre Royal from Tuesday 18 February to Saturday 22 February 2025.
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