Emotive, immersive, entertaining, intelligent, stylish, timeless – Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake, danced by his New Adventures company, still makes my heart soar, writes Georgina Butler.
The overwhelmingly successful dance–theatre production is entrancing audiences at Milton Keynes Theatre this week as part of its thirtieth-anniversary tour. Its unconventional take on the beloved nineteenth-century classical ballet plays out to Tchaikovsky’s sumptuous score but is thrillingly contemporary in its movement vocabulary and scenario.
First performed at Sadler’s Wells in 1995, it ruffled feathers with its ‘pointe-shoes-and-tutu-wearing swan maidens are out, bare-footed-and-bare-chested male swans are in’ approach. No women cursed to live as swans, just a prince struggling to live as himself.
Doubters need not despair, Bourne’s birds take flight for symbolism and spectacle – not spoof. His formidable flock represents freedom in the narrative and celebrates the strength, beauty and energy of men on stage.
The formal royal court, lively nightspots and lyrical lakeside antics brought to captivating life in Bourne’s Swan Lake ensured the show became a phenomenon: ballet purists were challenged; theatregoers were charmed; boys and men were inspired to dance and feel confident in their right to be dancers. Today, it really is a modern classic, with its impact continuing to ripple throughout dance education and the industry.
Bourne's Swan Lake was last performed in the UK (including performances at Milton Keynes Theatre) in 2019 and, most recently before that, in 2014. The current revival is subtitled ‘The Next Generation’. Fittingly, many of the cast members were nurtured through New Adventures’ ‘Swan School’, which provides promising young dancers with access to training, as well as pathways into the company and wider industry.
What’s more, many of the audience members who will see this production on tour will be first-time visitors to the lake. For young theatregoers with a fledgling interest in performing, this could be the beginning of something truly swantastic.
Picture a swan gliding across the water. It floats along calmly, with control and graceful accomplishment, yet frantic paddling happens beneath the surface. A seemingly effortless outward appearance belies the hard work that goes into achieving such an appearance. This metaphor works for the depiction of the prince's family life in Bourne’s real-world acts, which feature astute and affectionate details.
There’s the enormous bed that swivels around to become the palace balcony (private to public in the blink of an eye). The iceberg chill of the palace walls. The shadows that conceal and reveal stiff-backed protocol, suffocated emotions and manipulative seduction.
The cute-but-cranky corgi (this mechanical mutt guarantees giggles from the audience). A wonderfully witty parody of a Romantic-era ballet, alongside a comedic masterclass in what not to do when you go to the theatre. A gaudy nightclub where the inebriated prince spreads his wings and upsets the pecking order.
The Prince (compellingly portrayed on press night by James Lovell, Swan School alumni and New Adventures regular since 2018) is literally carried through daily self-care routines by attentive staff and performs royal duties on autopilot.
He obediently accompanies his cold, commanding mother, the Queen (Nicole Kabera, resplendent in a brazen red dress), to official engagements and ostensibly considers a bubbly blonde girl as a potential romantic interest.
Outwardly? Fulfilling expectations. Inwardly? Feeling starved of maternal love, unsuited to the pressure of a life lived in the public eye, unable to explore and become who he wants to be. Under constant surveillance, pursued by the Girlfriend (Bryony Wood, revelling in delightfully over-the-top characterisation), hounded by the press, haunted by his inner turmoil. Is it any wonder he staggers lakeside, writes a suicide note and teeters on the edge, ready to submerge himself under the water?
The Swan first comes to the Prince in a nightmarish dream before appearing as a saviour-like being during a vision at the moonlit lake. The Prince then projects this fascinating figure from his imagination – a daring masculine creature that he yearns to be close to and emulate – onto an enigmatic stranger who attends the third-act royal ball.
This ultimately seals the Prince's fate, as his emotional neediness and fragile mental state can no longer remain quietly hidden beneath the ceremonial theatricality of royal life. The dancer who performs as the Swan/Stranger must therefore have an otherworldly magnetism in the swan scenes and a mesmerising sense of showmanship in the ballroom, where he dances with most of the characters. Jackson Fisch, who joined New Adventures in 2017, delivers with intrigue and personality.
This is the Prince's story, but it is the swan ensemble that steals the show. Nothing – not even an unfortunate whirring noise, detectable above the recorded music (only the London performances include the full intensity of a live orchestra) for a short interlude, which was presumably an opening-night issue with a smoke machine – can detract from these swans.
They are wild, independent, mercurial. Very much suggestive of fierce and feral birds, yet undoubtedly men. They breathe collectively, deeply and audibly, their exhalations energising earthbound movements and soaring jumps. Hissing sounds, stamping feet, swept-back arms, bent-forward torsos, inclined heads, direct stares under lowered brows. The Prince is spellbound and saved from sorrow. So are we.
Troubled minds swim at a depth most people would drown in and the pull to the lake is strong. Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake is an unforgettable dance drama that can be watched again and again. Performed with power and presence by the current New Adventures company, it's a must-see masterpiece.
Running time: Approximately 2 hours 20 minutes, including an interval.
*Production photography by Johan Persson.
Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake continues at Milton Keynes Theatre until Saturday 19 April.
Georgina Butler is an editor, a dance writer and a ballet teacher. Visit https://georginabutler.co.uk and follow her on X (formerly Twitter) @GeorginaLButler and Instagram @glbdancewriter
