Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake Review 5*
Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake returns to the stage 30 years after its premiere upended our view of ballet
Matthew Bourne’s visionary Swan Lake is that rare thing: a work that gains in emotional intensity with every viewing. Premiered in 1995, and installed at Sadler’s Wells for the festive season as part of an extensive 30th anniversary tour, it’s brought to life for a new generation of ballet goers by his New Adventures company.
It looks as fresh now as it did then, its tragic tale of a sad, love-starved Prince’s fascination with a charismatic Swan almost unbearably poignant.
In characteristic form, Bourne grabbed the plot and Act division of the original Swan Lake by the scruff of the neck and shook it vigorously to create his own contemporary mix of biting social observation and moments of extraordinary, heartrending beauty.
But for all that Acts I and III show great creativity (and, in truth, the occasional moment of self-indulgence) the true genius of the work resides in its white Acts, II and IV, with their flurry of stomping, hissing feral male swans replacing the traditional ethereal female corps.
Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake, The Company. Photo: Johan Persson
The swans’ elemental presence is all the more powerful because it’s in glaring contrast to all too human vulgarity of the court of Acts I and III, where the Prince’s yearning for love goes unanswered by a cold Queen, his mother, and the efforts at seduction from an ill-mannered, hapless arriviste blonde (New Adventures veteran Girlfriend Katrina Lyndon) cause him nothing but embarrassment and revulsion.
Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake, Katrina Lyndon as The Girlfriend. Photo: Johan Persson
When he can stand it no longer and flees to a lakeside intent on suicide, the Prince meets a charismatic Swan and suddenly everything changes. The prolonged interaction between man and feral bird is extraordinarily engaging: the Swan is initially skittish, aggressively rebuffing every attempt at contact, upper body folding menacingly forward and unfolding into a flying leap, slapping away the prince’s touch.
The eventual pas de deux between a semi-tamed Swan, grippingly danced on press night by Harrison Dowzell and the Prince, a totally convincing James Lovell, is a thing of beauty – tender, immensely erotic and deeply deeply moving.
A versatile performer, Dowzell returns in Act III as the leather-clad Stranger, the bit of rough disruptor that, much to the Prince’s chagrin, proves irresistible to the fine ladies of the court, the Queen, a wonderfully haughty and sluttish Nicole Kabera, very much included.
Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake, Nicole Kabera as The Queen and company. Photo: Johan Persson
Sets and costumes by Bourne regular collaborator Lez Brotherston and skilful lighting by Paule Constable accentuate the lavish vulgarity of the court and the dreamy, unreal atmosphere of the moonlit lake. For the London performances Tchaikovsky’s score is thrillingly played live by the New Adventures orchestra conducted by Benjamin Pope.
The final Act, set in the bedroom of the broken Prince, is full of almost unbearable tension as the feral swans turn their murderous rage on Prince and Swan.
Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake, James Lovell as The Prince, Harrison Dowzell as The Swan. Photo: Johan Persson
Here Bourne comes closest to the original finale depicting the lovers’ reunion in the afterlife, and if the pathos of that tableau doesn’t bring tears to your eyes, nothing will.
© Teresa Guerreiro
Banner Image Credit: Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake, James Lovell as The Prince, Harriosbn Dowzell as The Swan, Photo: Johan Persson
Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake is at Sadler’s Wells until 26th January 2025. No performances on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. Info and tickets here