Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake. Nicole Kabera (The Queen) and Company. Photo Johan Persson.One of the first things to remind ourselves about classically trained ballet dancers, is that they can dance just about anything else — some may be tap specialists, others more aligned to the physical sensuosity of Latin rhythms, but once you have ballet, you have all of the core basics and the rest is essentially honing and icing. Beautiful icing. Transformative icing. Dynamic and passionate icing. But icing none the less. This troupe has technique a-plenty and aside from a few wayward arms/wings(?) lived-up to the undoubted weight of expectation.
The young Matt Bourne took a huge gamble thirty years ago. He asked established dance talents to journey with him in creating a dangerous and potentially career-ending new interpretation of the classic which had rarely been tampered-with since Marius Petipa set choreography to Tchaikovsky’s lush and uber-romantic musical strains. But the production justifiably caused a sensation and for those of us who were hushed, anxious, dazzled (and in some cases surprisingly aroused as we watched back then), ballet and dance in general, took on a fresh and surprisingly powerful significance. Society may have changed profoundly in the intervening years, but it is truly wonderful to witness a troupe of young dancers don Lez Brotherston’s iconic twisted silk feather costumes and follow proudly in the footsteps of those who have gone before. Scott Ambler would undoubtedly approve, not least of the cast’s capacity to extract oodles of humour and virility from the subject matter.
Odette / Odile and Siegfried in the classic version of Swan Lake, are subject to elemental forces, which result in trickery and breeches of professed fidelity. Here, the young Prince (James Lovell on press night) flirts with women at his mother’s court including a brash floozy (Katrina Lyndon) but in a later scene proclaims privately to the Queen (Nicole Kabera) his homosexuality, begging for his mother’s understanding and acceptance, which is coldly refused. Escaping the oppressive confines of the palace and the scrutiny of the Queen’s ever watchful Private Secretary (Cameron Flynn) he encounters a group of swans lead by a strong and charismatic cob (Harrison Dowzell) with whom he develops an instant and deeply sensual connection. The anthropomorphic connotation is perhaps less risible when one considers the multiplicity of instances - particularly in Germanic and Northern European fables - of Swans having other-worldly influence and transformative powers. As events unfold, the Swan appears as a dark and mysterious stranger at court, with the capacity to seduce virtually everyone who lays eyes upon him.
Ultimately, the clash of overlapping worlds decides the fate of the protagonists — for not all minds are open and accepting of difference. But when tragedy results from blinkered and resistant perceptions, those who are left behind, bitterly rue their short-sightedness.
Sir Matthew’s magical masterpiece looks as fresh and fantastical as ever. If you’ve never seen it, indulge yourself. If, like this reviewer, you last saw it nearly three decades ago, perhaps you should remind yourself what all the glorious fuss was about. I found myself falling in love with it, all over again.
Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake runs at Sadler's Wells until 26 January 2025.
