Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake – The Next Generation, A New Adventures Production, Birmingham Hippodrome, 06 Feb 2025. On until 15 Feb 2025, then on tour, 5☆☆☆☆☆. Review: David Gray and Paul Gray.
Photo Credit: Johan Persson.
Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake – The Next Generation, A New Adventures Production, Birmingham Hippodrome, 06 Feb 2025. On until 15 Feb 2025, then on tour,
5☆☆☆☆☆. Review: David Gray and Paul Gray.
“Matthew Bourne’s groundbreaking take on Swan Lake still dazzles.”
It is hard to believe this show is thirty years old. It looks pristine and feels as fresh and original as ever. This is partly because the milieu of its setting is still very relevant; we remain obsessed with our Ruritanian Royal Family, and they never fail to oblige with new soap opera plots. And the celebrity culture Matthew Bourne satirises is, if anything, now even more entrenched in our culture than it was in the nineties.
But the Ballet’s evergreen charm owes more to its inherent qualities than to any external factors. The choreography, so groundbreaking back in 1995, still has the power to startle. Not a single move seems lazy, unimaginative or redundant. The blend of classical and contemporary styles is still dazzling. And Bourne’s use of movement motif-and-counterpoint enables him to maintain structural integrity, alongside fluid storytelling. Bourne uses all the tools at his disposal to develop a highly expressive dance language that flows from the music - and then grows beyond it.
Nor does the production rest on its laurels. With each iteration, choreography is refreshed and different details and nuances in the story are brought to the fore. This time round, for example, the role of the Private Secretary as a scheming Machiavelli seems less prominent. This allows the narrative scope to develop more as a psychodrama, driven by the Prince’s disintegrating mental well-being, than by any behind-the-scenes court intrigue. This is a much more emotionally satisfying direction for the Ballet to take.
A strong cast brings Bourne’s work vividly to life. As The Prince, Stephen Murray poignantly embodies a lost man-child reluctantly exploring his sexual identity while still clinging to childhood fantasy. Jackson Fisch is vibrant, animalistic, yet vulnerable as The Swan. Fisch really comes into his own as the swaggering ambivalent Stranger in the party scene. Ashley Shaw manages to project, from beneath the hauteur, the pain of a queen who seems unable to love.
In a more minor role (either) Katrina Lyndon/Bryony Wood, bring surprising pathos to the potentially vacuous role of The Girlfriend. We feel for her desperate need to get into a social sphere where she can never belong. She mirrors The Prince’s desperation to get out of the same social sphere, where he too can never belong.
Sadly, in a brilliant design concept that is both strikingly modern and classically timeless, The Girlfriend’s bubble dresses strike a slightly archaic note. Times have moved on. Perhaps it is time to retire this dated look in favour of something more up to date? A quibble, I know. Overall, the show looks stunning stunning, particularly the contrast between the strongly stated look of the royal court and dreamlike quality of the scenes by the lake.
Bourne’s brilliance is to realise that Swan Lake is a metaphor for sexual awakening. He sets that metaphor in a highly sexualised society and makes the focus of the story one of a sexuality which is irreconcilable with the norms of that society. It is a powerful vision that has given rise to a powerful and emotionally compelling masterpiece that continues to excite and provoke. For us, this was a truly absorbing, joyous and wonderful evening in the theatre. If you can get tickets – they are almost all sold out – GO!
Cast
The Swan/Stranger – Harrison Dowzell or Jackson Fisch or Rory MacLeod
The Prince – James Lovell or Leonardo McCorkindale or Stephen Murray
The Queen – Nicole Kabera or Katrina Lyndon or Ashley Shaw
The Girlfriend – Katrina Lydon or Ashley Shaw or Bryony Wood
The Private Secretary – Benjamin Barlow Bazeley or Cameron Flynn or James Lovell
Ensemble - Matthew Amos, Benjamin Barlow Bazeley, Alistair Beattie, Ben Brown, Carla Contini,
Jade Copas, Anna-Maria de Freitas, Perreira de Jesus Franque, Jamie Duncan-Campbell, Alexander
Fadayiro, Savannah Ffrench, Cameron Flynn, Louis Fukuhara, Louis Harris, Kurumi Kamayachi,
Aristide Lyons, Callum Mann, Eleanor McGrath, Jarrod McWilliams, Maisie Mwebe, Mukeni Nel,
Eve Ngbokota, George-Murray Nightingale, Harry Ondrak-Wright, Barnaby Quarendon, Molly
Shaw-Downie, Nikolas Shikkis, Xavier Andriambolanoro Sotiya, Tom Standing and ChristinaWalters.
Creatives
Director and Choreographer - Matthew Bourne
Composer – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Sets and Costumes – Lez Brotherson
Lighting - Paule Constable
Sound – Ken Hampton
Video Designer – Duncan McLean