Knighted earlier this year, Sir Matthew Bourne OBE has won numerous Laurence Olivier Awards and Tony’s for iconic shows like his all-male adaptation of Swan Lake. After that show packed the house last year, the legendary choreographer brings his gothic rendition of Sleeping Beauty to Shanghai Culture Square from August 16-25 and Beijing Tianqiao Performing Arts Center from September 1-4. During his whirlwind first visit to Shanghai, he found time to chat with That's.
What gave you the idea of doing this adaption of Sleeping Beauty?
Well, it only seems right to do so. I had done two other Tchaikovsky classics – Swan Lake and The Nutcracker – in the 1990s and I became quite well-known afterwards. So I thought I should give Sleeping Beauty a go at the time of my company’s 25th anniversary.
I sort of made myself do it because the music is terribly grand, but the story didn’t appeal to me enormously. During the process of research, however, I found the story to be rich and fell in love with it. It ended being one of my most enjoyable productions.
What do you think of the original fairy tale adaptation?
I have mixed feelings. To me, it just doesn’t feel right to have a prince who wasn’t there from the beginning arrive at the end. So I changed that and whatever I felt was weak in the original story. But I didn’t mind the ‘happily ever after’ part. The whole process was a fun task for me, so I focused on what I could do with the story rather than the story itself.
Besides the Royal Ballet’s adaptation, what were your other references?
Of course, the Royal Ballet gave a perfect ballet rendition of the story. I also watched the Disney version, which is the most famous and unique version for audiences.
Disney, interestingly, recognized the same problem in the story that I did, which was that the prince came in too late. So they had the princess fall in love with him. We did something similar by having the princess love a real commoner – an unsuitable suitor, in a way.
Where does your inspiration come from?
Films. I came into dance rather late and didn’t watch a ballet until I was 18. All those years living in London, I saw a lot of movies, along with musical and theater plays. Unlike most professional dancers who start training very young, I tried many other things instead. And now I try to include a bit of dance history in my works and throw everything in there. My head is always spinning with film images, some of which I don’t even recognize.
The other thing that inspires me today are my dancers. It’s funny running a dance company for 30 years – we started off with people around the same age dancing in the company, but now, as I grow older, there is a big age gap. I’ve got so many talented dancers who have become the reason I want to get up in the morning to help them with their careers.
Do you have any preferences when auditioning dancers?
I want and encourage them to be versatile and be generous with their way of performing. For each project, I will assign dancers a list of films and books for them to research and learn their characters. Beyond that, they can be anything they want. They don’t have to have a perfect body within reason. I don’t want a unified look because we’ve got so many different characters in the play.
Audiences find similarity in styles between you and Tim Burton, who also did Sleeping Beauty in his early Faerie Tale Theatre series. Do you agree?
I actually cooperated with Tim Burton while doing a theatre adaptation of Edward Scissorhands. He loves re-telling fairy tales, gothic literature and fantasy tales. It's easy to spot a great Tim Burton project.
Edward Scissorhands did connect us in some way, though I mainly worked with the writer. I do see the similarity because you never expect him to do a straightforward story version. He’s a genuine design artist and has such a unique voice. What he earns with his popularity allows him to try more.
Have audiences changed much during the past few years?
Yes. Take Swan Lake for example. We used to have people walking out and little girls sitting in the front row crying in their tutus, thinking they were going to the classical Swan Lake. Now the show has grown from a controversial play to a Christmas show for families. Many young people have only watched the all-male adaption Swan Lake and find female swans quite odd. It always goes from one extreme to another.
Are you working on any new projects?
Yes, we are doing a new show this year, and we’ll be back into rehearsal once this tour is over. The new show is called Red Shoes and is based on an amazing British film about a dance company in the 1940s. To make a dance piece about a dance company might sound a bit dull, but the film is very cinematically exciting. It’s going to end badly, I’m afraid.
Shanghai: Aug 16-28, 7.15pm (2pm matinees on weekends), RMB80-780. Shanghai Culture Square, tickets.
Beijing: Sep 1-4, 7.30pm (with 2pm weekend matinees), RMB99-1,500. Beijing Tianqiao Performing Arts Center.
Images from Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty by Johan Persson.
0 User Comments