CityLife

New Adventures: Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake

Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake
The Lowry
March 1, 2010

It’s hard to believe that it is 15 years since Matthew Bourne’s imaginative reworking of Swan Lake was first performed.

Hailed as a modern dance classic it has the rare combination of both longevity and freshness that keeps audiences coming back time and again. And, as at The Lowry this week, it still has packed houses standing in appreciation and awe at the end.

Even if you’ve never seen the show, you’ve probably seen the iconic male swans, with their muscular bare chests and rough feathered breeches. It’s the role you see the grown up Billy Elliot performing on stage at the end of the film.

The flock of domineering male swans rather than the traditional female swan maidens is the twist for which it is most famous. But it is by no means the only quirk to this inventive show, which moves effortlessly from laugh out loud funny to heart-breaking tenderness.

Keeping to Tchaikovsky's score, it opens with a sleeping prince, dwarfed in his super-king sized bed within the dramatic castle walls of Lez Brotherston’s surreal fairytale-like set. As he dreams we catch a glimpse of Richard Windor’s powerful swan beyond the window – an image which is instantly striking and mysterious.

Wild gracefulness

Back in the waking world, the Prince (a passionate Dominic North), is stifled in tradition and repetition. He accompanies his mother (played with elegant coldness by Nina Goldman), on royal visits, waves dutifully to the crowds, while longing for affection that never comes.

Much to the Queen’s distaste he is snared by a social climbing girlfriend, Madelaine Brennan, whose comic timing makes the character’s lack of etiquette a delight to watch. The result is both irreverent and hilarious, with the scene in the royal box at the ballet worth the ticket price alone.

Trapped in such a world it is no wonder the Prince is despairing, but just as he can take no more the swans appear, their wild gracefulness offering a taste of freedom.

As the Swan, Richard Winsor, recently seen at The Lowry as the eponymous lead in Bourne’s Dorian Gray, is an imposing presence on the stage, instantly entrancing the Prince and the audience alike.

Again, as the leather-clad Stranger, Winsor is equally alluring, seducing everyone he meets, including the Queen. This, of course, is the ultimate betrayal for the Prince, whose heartache leads to madness.

It’s dramatic, funny, sexy, irreverent and, after 15 years, still bursting with energy. 

Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake is at The Lowry until March 6, 2010.

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