SWAN LAKE

A review by Tanya Howard

Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake is back on tour as it nears its 25th birthday, after the World Premiere was on 9th November 1995 at Sadler’s Wells Theatre.  Retaining the iconic elements of the original production Matthew Bourne, Lez Brotherson, set and costume designer, and Paule Constable, lighting, have created an exciting re-imagining of the classic production.

Best known for replacing the female corps-de-ballet with a menacing male ensemble, throwing tradition out the window by shattering conventional ballet. Swan Lake tells the story of a young Prince, his distant mother, and his desire for freedom, represented by a swan.

Matthew Bourne is clearly an incredible choreographer and turned the dance world on its head with his break against tradition but in all honesty the storyline completely baffled me. I actually thought that the character of his Mother was his cheating wife that he had an unsettling relationship with, as he is so desperate for her love, and I only knew who she was when I googled it after.

The Prince doesn’t fit into the stern and superficial lifestyle surrounding him and escapes palace life to go drinking in a sleazy club but is kicked out for being too drunk. Stumbling around he finds himself in a park and decides he has had enough of feeling unloved and writes a suicide note. Essentially, he goes to kill himself but is stopped by a swan that he falls in love with.

The plot is extremely bizarre, but the dancing is exquisite and can’t be faulted with the fresh and fluid movements bringing together a mix of contemporary and classic influences. The set, music and lighting were all extremely crowd pleasing, and you could see the majority of the audience were absolutely enthralled by the performance but maybe dance is a bit lost on me.

I can’t deny the beauty of the choreography but at times it felt drawn out and longer than necessary and with the lack of spoken word throughout I was a bit lost in the story. The scene showcasing the Royal Ball becomes monotonous at times and the show is quite sexist with the character of “girlfriend” portrayed as a complete airhead, although Freya Field was great in the role and was my favourite in the show.

Despite my experience not being the most positive I would tell you not to write off the production. The audience surrounding me clearly adored the show so by no means would I say don’t go. If you are a lover of dance and of Matthew Bourne I’m sure you wouldn’t be disappointed, rather than it being a bad show I think it was simply a case of not being my personal preference, especially as Sammy who reviewed it at Sadler’s Wells loved the show.