It is over 20 years since Sir Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake made its first appearance, stunning audiences with its radical re-working of Tchaikovsky’s classic. Famously, the corps de ballet of women in pretty white tutus was replaced by a group of male swans —vicious, menacing and probably a lot more like the real thing.
Bourne has revamped his production, with new designs, lighting and some revised choreography, but the essence is still very much the same, with those savage swans dominating the entire ballet. (If you want a small taster of what to expect, look at the final two minutes of the film Billy Elliot.)
Although obviously inspired by the Petipa/Ivanov choreography, Bourne’s swans beat their wings with more ferocity than grace; their heads twitch and jerk — these are angry birds indeed.
There are also some nice touches of humour, with the Dance of the Little Swans (was ever there a piece more parodied?) given a quirky reinterpretation.
The familiar story has also been tweaked to suit the all-male ensemble: here we have a Prince ill at ease in his royal role, unloved by his mother and missing a father figure. Is it a gay love story? Perhaps, or perhaps it is simply a tale of mental anguish and lost hopes. Bourne has said he is more than happy for audiences to put their own interpretation on the work.
It is a thrilling piece of theatre, with powerful dancing throughout — I saw Matthew Ball (on loan from the Royal Ballet) as the Swan and Liam Mower as the Prince — both pulsating with emotional intensity.
The costumes are glorious — there are some wonderful frocks with a 1950s vibe –— and although the familiar score has been chopped around a little, and is taken at a swift pace, purists will have little to complain about.
This Swan Lake will blow away your preconceptions of what ballet is all about, and will undoubtedly win new audiences along the way.
Swan Lake is on at Sadler's Wells until January 27.
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