SWAN LAKE at Sadler's Wells - Bourne Again...

I last saw Matthew Bourne's iconic SWAN LAKE in 2013 and in the intervening five years - thanks to Wayne McGregor's WOOLF WORKS for the Royal Ballet - I have had a wider exposure to both classical and modern ballet, mostly at Covent Garden.  So it was with added excitement that I took my seat - K row stalls of course - to see again this very special production.

This was my fifth time seeing Bourne's SWAN LAKE in the theatre and it never fails to move me emotionally in it's dying moments; other Bourne productions may now seem too much style over content - EDWARD SCISSORHANDS, DORIAN GRAY - but SWAN LAKE taps into the emotions and always delivers.

Bourne has re-visited his masterpiece and now has Paule Constable as the lighting designer and added video images by Duncan McLean, it was delightful to see the little touches that kept it fresh.  Lez Brotherston's designs are still wonderfully atmospheric and the excellent Bourne dancer Kerry Biggin has re-staged the show wonderfully.

Bourne's scenario stays the same: A lonely Prince has a distant relationship with his mother The Queen while surrounded by the soulless life at court.  Attempting to elude the plotting of the corrupt Private Secretary - who has paid a silly blonde to be his girlfriend - The Prince runs off into the night determined to drown himself in a lake. Once there he is surrounded by a bevy of swans and he instantly becomes enraptured by their leader, an imperious, mysterious Swan who guardedly returns the Prince's friendliness until they share a romantic pas-de-deux.  The Prince runs off exultant.

However the appearance of a dark and dangerous stranger at the Palace ball throws the Prince into a mental tailspin when the Stranger - who seems to embody the same magnetism as The Swan - jeers at the Prince and is determined to seduce the all-too-willing Queen.  When the Prince pulls a gun on the couple, all hell breaks loose, the girlfriend is shot trying to shield the Prince and he is dragged away.  Alone and delirious, his salvation appears with the arrival of the Swan but the bevy of jealous swans surround them wanting blood...

It's a production that just immerses me in it's tragic plot and as I said, in it's final moments I was again blinking back the tears.  The performances across the cast were as strong as always: Bourne favourite Liam Mower was a wonderfully fluid Prince, his smallest movements were tremulous and full of pain, making his final breakdown all the more heartbreaking; he really invested the character with an aching solitude.

Katrina Lyndon was a brittle yet lusty Queen and Freya Field found all the laughs in the clutzy girlfriend role while Glenn Graham was fine as the Private Secretary; the ensemble all gave committed performances and the four cygnet dancers got a huge and deserved ovation for their wonky, flapping set-piece.  The Swan / Stranger was commandingly danced by Max Westwell, making his debut with the New Adventures company, and he rose to the challenge of the two roles well.

So there we are... SWAN LAKE is back and brighter than ever.  All Sadler's Wells dates are sold out but it is then going on an extensive UK tour from January to May, visiting Milton Keynes, Birmingham, Southampton, Dublin, Glasgow, Bristol, Canterbury, Norwich, Liverpool, Wimbledon, Hull, Woking, Newcastle and Sheffield - check for availability by clicking here

Swans: Now and Forever...