Saturday, 28 December 2013

Swan Lake - Matthew Bourne

Rather than our usual Nutcracker, this Christmas we saw Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake at Sadler's Wells.  There were no new productions of the Nutcracker, at least without spending a lot of money on tickets.  So it was Swan Lake instead, and I have to say I was not disappointed.  It's not like this is a new production either, having been around since 1995, but I hadn't seen it before.

The music was great, as always, and Matthew Bourne never goes in for the full ballet experience.  I think it's ballet inspired contemporary dance.  Perhaps he's a gateway to the stricter ballet, since after seeing this one I am keen to see the full ballet.  He's changed the story around too, so it feels a bit more modern than the usual love story that most ballets/operas seem to have.

I knew the original story of Swam Lake (it's not particularly complex) and so was wondering how they were going to fit that in with the male swan, but it was done really well.  If you haven't seen it in the 18 years it's been running, I would make time for it, it's definitely worth it.

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