CINDERELLA at Sadler's Wells: Cinders Bourne again...

If it's Christmas then there will be a Matthew Bourne production at Sadler's Wells and this year it's a return for his version of Prokofiev's CINDERELLA which we last saw there in 2010.

It was a delight to see it again but I also feel a bit more able to critique it now after having had more exposure to dance through seeing the work of the Royal Ballet.

Bourne sets his CINDERELLA in wartime London 1941 which is a good framework for the story as the chances of happiness were fleeting and could be snatched away quickly.  Cinderella is the put-upon child of a withdrawn father, isolated in his wheelchair, and her stepmother, a glamorous Joan Crawfordesque drunken maneater.  She shares the house with her 5 step-siblings: two vain sisters and 3 brothers: one a gay clothes designer, a shoe fetishist and a hyper-active lad.

Into their life stumbles an RAF pilot, disorientated and dishevelled, who Cinderella instantly falls for.  He runs out of the house with Cinders in hot pursuit and her life changes forever.  Cinderella is watched over by a ghostly angel who guides her through the London blitz and who even recreates the just-bombed nightclub the Cafe de Paris so Cinderella can have her moment in a pretty dress dancing with her RAF prince.

A night of love between them ends with the angel summoning Cinderella to flee at midnight but, caught again in the dangerous streets, Cinderella and her pilot both end up in the hospital - what chance for a happy ending now?

What dazzled most was the excellent set and costume design by Lez Brotherston who conjures haunting imagery - none more so than in the Cafe de Paris scene, based on the real event in March 1941 when the assumed-safe underground club was struck by two bombs that fell through a ventilation shaft and exploded on the dancefloor, killing 34 people and injuring 80.  Neil Austin's excellent lighting adds to the thrilling visual power.

Bourne excels in strong narratives but in CINDERELLA he loses clarity towards the end especially in the lengthy hospital scene which also includes a confusing flashback of her stepmother shooting her father then appearing in the hospital to smother Cinderella - why?  Up until then, the stepmother is portrayed as a comic vamp; the sudden lurch into melodrama just feels forced.

The central relationship between Cinderella and the pilot also feels ultimately negligible, they seem to be do a lot of rushing around chasing each other through the blackouts but they never really seem to connect as a couple, their best duet being in his bedroom while air-raids threaten overhead.  The idea of having five siblings for Cinderella dissipates the tension within their relationships; her two sisters are oddly anonymous as the brothers are given more attention-getting characters.

Bourne's choreography has it's signature moves but it would be good if you were not able to second guess some of them: the straight arms crossing at the elbows as couples dance being one.  As I said, some natural, clean lines would be nice occasionally.

However Ashley Shaw was delightful as Cinderella, creating a real sympathetic character - none more so than in her lovely solo with her brother's tailoring dummy which then turns into a duet with her hero - and Bourne regulars Michela Meazza and Liam Mower were excellent as nasty Sybil the stepmother and Cinderella's other-worldly Angel.

CINDERELLA is still a wonderful theatrical experience with our charming heroine, tormented hero, heavenly guide, nocturnal trouser-jiggling rentboys, brassy tarts, gas-mask dogs, glamorous nightclub patrons and lonely love-lorn Londoners all mixing together as the bombs fall and Prokofiev's dramatic, moody score soars. 

Next Christmas at Sadler's Wells?  Let's just say I'll be there...

SLEEPING BEAUTY at Sadler's Wells - arise Sir Matthew!

The last show before Christmas was a traditional delight - a visit to Sadler's Wells to see the Xmas Matthew Bourne production and this year it was a revival of his Gothic retelling of Tchaikovsky's SLEEPING BEAUTY.

I first saw his version in 2013 but it was in the fraught, ugly surroundings of the Wimbledon Theatre with a clueless audience and even worse front-of-house management so my enjoyment was curtailed by such circumstances.  But here we are, in the familiar surroundings of row K in the Sadler's Wells stalls so let the show commence...

Bourne's take on the classic ballet is to keep it in 1890, the year of the musical's premiere.  A King and Queen have asked the dark fairy Carabosse to help them have a child - the ins and outs are not explained! - but when a daughter is born and Carabosse is kept away from the christening, she appears and casts a spell for the girl to die on her 21st birthday.  Luckily Count Lilac and his rag-tag retinue of fairies are on hand to amend it so Aurora will only sleep til woken by a kiss 100 year later.

This opening scene wins one over straight away with the appearance of a puppet baby princess who scampers around the stage much to the courtier's frustration. Flash forward to 1911 and Aurora's 21st birthday party which takes place on the palace lawn in full Edwardian dress.

She loves Leo the gamekeeper and they dance a marvellous pas de deux but a handsome, tall stranger appears to give her a rose with tainted thorns.  When Aurora succumbs to the thorns, the stranger is revealed to be Carabosse's equally nasty son Caradoc. 

But how does Bourne get around the plot flaw that if Aurora has to sleep for 100 years, what then of Leo?  But here he puts his own radical spin on the tale by having the First Act end with Count Lilac biting Leo's neck turning him into an ageless vampire - result!  Lilac swooping on Leo's neck got a big "Ooooo" from the audience and it's an excellent close to the act as the music quietly pulses away as Leo twitches in spasms.

The second act starts in 2011 as Leo enters the palace's magical moonlit gardens to awaken Aurora but he is foiled by Caradoc who awakens Aurora instead to become his prisoner bride.  Count Lilac comes to Leo's aid again to rescue Aurora from being wedded to Caradoc in the ominous black and red nightclub which is the haunt of his evil retinue.

As before there was so much to enjoy - Lez Brotherston's wonderful set and costume designs conjure up both the real and other-worldly and Paule Constable's lighting design was wonderfully atmospheric.  As usual the company were excellent and Bourne's choreography always involving and entertaining.

But.. but.. but.. there is something about it that leaves me a little unsatisfied about it.  The relationship between Aurora and Leo was excellently danced by Ashley Shaw and the always-watchable Dominic Shaw but the relationship is so thinly drawn that it is difficult to be drawn emotionally into the characters.  It just all feels so perfunctory, maybe I should have a view of the dvd to be able to give myself over to it? 

Special mentions to Christopher Marney as Count Lilac and Tom Clark as Caradoc/Carabosse who are the only other characters to feature prominently however it was nice to see familiar Bourne names in the ensemble such as Chris Trenfield and Kate Lyons.

It was great to hear the news so soon after seeing SLEEPING BEAUTY that Matthew Bourne was to be knighted in the 2016 New Years Honours.  I have been a fan of his work since 1992 and he has consistently shown to be a master storyteller through his works as well as being a great ambassador for contemporary dance and for the outreach work that New Adventures has done in the past... well done Matthew!!