Although it’s 14 years since Matthew Bourne’s convention-breaking version of the perennial classic exploded on the stage, it still comes across as fresh and vibrant as ever.
The outlines of the story are only loosely similar - a prince meets a swan and falls in love and it all ends in tragedy – but Bourne completely updates the locations and turns the traditional female corps de ballet into a troupe of toned, barefoot young men, naked from the waist up and clad in feathery white breeches. Instead of a prima ballerina as Odette, there’s a muscular young man as the Swan, his torso streaked with sweat, who captivates the unhappy prince and offers him the warmth that his icy royal mother (Nina Goldman) finds impossible to give. A blissful leaping duet is just one of the highlights of this show of many pleasures.
Lez Brotherston’s witty designs take the action from palace to park and from seedy nightclub to glitzy ball, capturing the atmosphere of each as Bourne’s choreography finds humour then tragedy in the Queen’s penchant for toy boys. A cute quartet of jokey little cygnets adds a quirky touch and a quietly creepy Private Secretary tidies up the loose ends, including Madelaine Brennan’s unsuitably common Girlfriend with her tumble of blonde curls.
As the Swan, Richard Windsor gains assurance in the second act, though he seems more comfortable as his alter ego, the sinister, shamelessly flirtatious Stranger in black leather.And Richard Winsor’s suicidal Prince is truly touching in this accessible, multi-award winning ballet set to Tchaikovsky’s irresistible score and defined by its homoerotic overtones.
Sadler’s Wells Rosebery Avenue, EC1R 4TN (
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