Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake
★★★★☆ Emotional artistry
Festival Theatre: Tue 8 – Sat 12 Apr 2025
Review by Hugh Simpson.
Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake, at the Festival Theatre until Saturday, remains a huge draw, and with good reason.
While using Tchaikovsky’s original music, Bourne jettisoned any of the ballet’s existing choreography and put his own stamp on it. The production’s most innovative feature – the male swans – can surely pass without controversy now that it has reached its 30th anniversary.
To put that in perspective, 30 years before its first performance, the Lord Chamberlain could (and did) still ban theatrical productions in the UK.
James Lovell (The Prince), Harrison Dowzell (The Swan) and Company. Photo Johan Persson
Over the years, there have been tweaks to the production that have kept its setting up-to-date, notably the portrayal of the royal characters. As a result, it still seems resolutely modern (perhaps with the exception of the celebrity-watchers outside the royal ball, who still want autographs rather than selfies).
That modernity is down largely to the fruitful collision of styles, which often owes as much to modern dance as it does to ballet; there is a nightclub scene that is more Bob Fosse than anything else.
occasionally breathtaking
Throughout, the dancing is dramatic, controlled and expressive, and there is nothing remotely jaded in Bourne’s choreography. Even if it has lost the groundbreaking quality that distinguished its first appearance, it remains an accomplished, thoroughly enjoyable spectacle that is always fulfilling and occasionally breathtaking.
Jackson Fisch (The Swan) and Company. Pic Johan Persson
The billing of this version as The Next Generation refers to the fact that the entire cast are home-grown, having appeared in previous productions with Bourne’s New Adventures company. Indeed, more than half of them took part in the New Adventures talent development programmes before joining the company proper.
Leonardo McCorkindale’s Prince is beautifully emotional; his duets with Rory Macleod’s white and black swans are stunningly physical, with beautifully defined lines. Katrina Lyndon’s Queen has a regal aloofness that translates into thoroughly controlled dancing.
Icily calculating
James Lovell’s Private Secretary is icily calculating, while Bryony Wood starts off as a flighty social climber as The Girlfriend but eventually evokes considerable sympathy.
Stephen Murray (The Prince) and Company. Photo Johan Persson
The ensemble, meanwhile, are never less than impressive in their various guises, with the impact heightened by Lez Brotherston’s imposing sets and gorgeous costumes, Paule Constable’s pin-sharp lighting, Ken Hampton’s sound design and Duncan McLean’s video design.
The video design has a wit which reinforces just how funny the production is at times, and not just in the cruel but fair parody of the excesses of traditional romantic en pointe ballet.
In the end, however, it’s the emotion that has the lasting impact, and a huge part of that remains with those swans, who are as imposingly athletic and gracefully animalistic as ever. The whole production remains one that is definitely worth seeing, whether you think you like ballet or not.
Running time: Two hours 35 minutes (including one interval)
Festival Theatre, 13/29 Nicolson Street EH8 9FT.
Tue 8 – Sat 12 Apr 2025
Evening: 7.30pm; Thurs, Sat mat: 2.30pm.
Tickets and details: Book here.
Glasgow Theatre Royal, 282 Hope Street, Glasgow G2 3QA.
Tue 3 – Sat 7 June 2025
Evening: 7.30pm; Mats Thurs, Sat: 2.30pm.
Tickets and details: Book here.
Stephen Murray (The Prince) and Company. Pic: Johan Persson.
ENDS
