Matthew Bourne - Swan Lake 28th January -1st February 2014

Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake has lost none of its glamour but grows and changes with each fresh cast.

Bourne’s breathtaking and sexy version of Swan Lake is definitely a glamorous piece of dance theatre.  If you are expected copious amount of tulle, ballet shoes and tutus, you will be surprised that this version contains none of those.  What it has is dynamic stage sets, the most amazing costumes (both designed by Les Brotherston), wit, passion and sensitivity - all performed by fabulously talented dancers.
  

Originally written by Tchaikovsky in the late 19th century, Swan Lake was staged at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre in 1877.  This surprisingly witty production has been designed to reach out to a modern audience, to excite them, to move them. This production is very powerful, immensely intense and extremely passionate.

The curtain rises on a prince, (the amazing Sam Archer) who is lost and lonely in a world he feels he doesn't belong.  The brilliant, over-sized settings portrays the stuffy life of the court, where the bored Prince is dwarfed by the weight of the protocol thrust upon him, forced to repeat the same meaningless tasks and insulated from any real communication with the world around him.  

He is an anguished soul, trapped and unsuited to life in the public eye, craving love and attention from the brilliant Madelaine Brennan, who plays his icy mother, the Queen. Brennan portrayed a real magisterial quality in the character.  Sadly, the Queen is incapable of expressing emotion - which ultimately undoes her son’s sanity.

The Prince does have some altercations with a commoner - “a girlfriend” played by the vivacious, funny and talented Kerry Biggin.  Bourne has managed to bring so much wit and fun to this production, and the girlfriend character was instrumental in this.  There are little touches of comedy genius with subtle glances and even an addition of a stuffed corgi on stage!

The iconic swans burst into the Princes world just as he is on the verge of despairing suicide.   The swans allow him freedom, however it is the lead swan, which is the symbol of the love and passion, he is starved of.  Jonathan Olivier (lead swan/stranger) puts his heart and soul into his performance, the intensity shows in every inch of his body.  His movement is immensely powerful; his grace and body form was sublime. To watch both Olivier and Archer dance together in total synergy was timeless.

The Milton Keynes Theatre audience rose to their feet as the final curtain fell to applaud this totally breathtaking and irresistible production that premiered in Saddlers Wells in 1995….every time I see this it just gets stronger and stronger.  Long may it continue. 

Lily B xx