When Matthew Bourne‘s Swan Lake premiered, 30 years ago, audiences embraced it with enthusiasm and some uncertainty. Never before had men taken the lead in a ballet known for its femininity; nor had a choreographer so bravely thrust together ballet and commercial dance.
Back then some viewers baulked at the bare-chested men in feathers moving to Tchaikovsky’s iconic score, yet in hindsight Bourne’s Swan Lake foretold a future that would upend stereotypes in the dance world and the culture at large. His powerful swans ushered in a groundbreaking new era in dance, paving the way for collaboration between genres.
Bourne’s updated production is about to arrive in Ireland, for a run at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre as part of Dublin Dance Festival. Earlier in the tour, during an almost sold-out run at the Festival Theatre in Edinburgh, the audience ranges from children to pensioners, some quite familiar with ballet and others seeing it for the first time.
“It’s an incredible thing that’s happened with the show, because it started off being dubbed as controversial, with all those famous quotes of ‘ruffling feathers in the ballet’,” Bourne says, on the phone from an opening in New York, “but actually it was quite welcomed in many ways by the ballet establishment. There were only a few diehards that had a problem with it.
“The idea of two men dancing together 30 years ago did result in some people walking out, because it wasn’t what they were expecting, like young mothers with their daughters who thought they were coming to a traditional Swan Lake. It had an air of controversy about it, but now it’s been embraced by the public as almost like a family show. People bring their kids to it at Christmas.”
That effect will have been intensified by the centrality of Bourne’s production to the plot of Billy Elliot, Stephen Daldry’s hit film from 2000.
The traditional version of Swan Lake was premiered by the Bolshoi Ballet, in Russia, in 1877, featuring a prince who becomes enchanted by the swan Odette as she draws him into her lakeside world. After declaring his undying devotion, the prince is tricked into falling for Odette’s Doppelgänger, the black swan Odile, calling into question the idea of true love.
The ballet has persevered through centuries, in large part because of Tchaikovsky’s beloved music but also because of the ballet’s themes and vignettes. The Dance of the Cygnets, for instance, has become an integral part of the dance lexicon.
Boldly, in his rendition Bourne throws out many of the original conventions, yet he does so with such deftness and reverence to classical ballet that one wonders how any other choreographer could possibly reimagine it with equal skill. Bourne focuses on the prince, whose royal family belittles him so much that he is driven towards insanity, and as his tumultuous inner world unravels the male swans take centre stage.
In the reimagined version of the show, to mark its 30th anniversary, the swans are even more powerfully masculine, with leaps that take them nearly shoulder-height off the floor. The prince encounters these birds in a park, having fled the palace during a moment of despair, and becomes transformed, discovering another part of himself.
The second half of this Swan Lake features the lead swan making an electrifying transformation into head-to-toe black, seducing everyone – including the queen – at a palace ball. As the dramatic evening unfolds, the black swan titillates the willing guests until his allure drives the prince mad, literally.
The rest of the narrative overflows with iconic scenes. In a nightclub, silhouetted dancers entice the prince to let loose with his bombshell girlfriend. In another witty tableau, costumed woodsmen and fairies perform a clever ballet within a ballet for the narcissistic queen. Bourne’s humour and nod to current events strike an ideal balance between drama and dance technique. His style has inspired many young dancers to want to join his company.
“I know what an effect Swan Lake has had on the next generation,” Bourne says, noting that many current members of the company had not been born when he first created it, in 1995. “It has become this opportunity for a lot of young people to get involved in dance, particularly the men, who find it very inspiring from when they were young. It is a sort of a dream piece for a lot of people to be in.”
Stephen Murray, a lead dancer performing the role of the prince, grew up in Lucan, in Co Dublin; as a boy he dreamed of a career in musical theatre. After attending classes at Westside Performing Arts and then joining Irish National Youth Ballet and the Dublin-based College of Dance, he headed to the UK, where his career took off. He has been with Bourne’s company since 2016.
“When I first came here I don’t think I was as confident as I am now,” Murray says. “Matthew really coached me and gave me a lot of good advice, like how to place yourself within a scene. Working with him, you just listen and take it all in.”
Since founding his company Adventures in Motion Pictures, in 1987 – it became New Adventures in 2000 – Bourne has become synonymous with successful, large-scale productions. Swan Lake has toured multiple times around the UK, Europe, the United States and Asia.
In its first year alone the show earned an Olivier Award for best new dance production and Tony Award for best choreography. Bourne has since received honorary doctorates, Critics Circle awards and the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award for outstanding services to the art of ballet.
Alongside the success of Swan Lake, he has been able to sell out theatres with his other shows, such as Cinderella, The Sleeping Beauty, Edward Scissorhands and Romeo and Juliet. Bourne also spends time in the studio creating and revamping new works, joining the company on the road whenever possible.
“Almost every day I wake up and think, ‘How am I going to sell tickets today?’ There aren’t many directors or choreographers who think like that, I can tell you,” Bourne says. “I’m conscious of how to reinvent the shows, and each time we do them we change our publicity and we rethink our logos. We don’t just post the same thing again and again. We make it feel fresh.
“I sometimes think when things are funded to a great level [by the English Arts Council], there is less emphasis on, ‘Are we actually serving the audience?’ For me it’s not about the money necessarily, but it’s about selling a show. I really am very conscious of that.”
Bourne’s penchant for putting on shows dates back to his childhood, in London, where his parents took him to the theatre from an early age. Neither of his parents was involved in the theatre, but they exposed him to it, adding to his already burgeoning interest in film. Soon he was re-creating his own performances for the neighbours, offering tea and biscuits with the price of a ticket.
Fast-forward through studying dance at London’s prestigious Laban Centre – beginning his training at the relatively late age of 22 – and Bourne had found his calling. Support early on in his career came from Cameron Mackintosh, the producer of shows such as Phantom of the Opera and Cats. The two since have collaborated on West End and Broadway productions of Mary Poppins and Oliver! Their latest is Old Friends, an adaptation of Stephen Sondheim songs, starring Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga.
I have a lot of family who would never be able to make it overseas to see me. Being in Dublin, it’s not a far journey away. Even close friends from school who have never seen me dance before, this will be the first time. So I’m really excited
— Jade Copas
“The thing I will say that’s most important to me is having a company,” says Bourne, who at 65 maintains the energy and drive of someone who is only getting started. “It’s the thing that grounds me, weirdly. Knowing that there’s that continuity. It’s a privilege to be able to do the work you want to do, because I know a lot of people who have to wait to be asked all the time. I can decide to do whatever it is and do it. So that is really such a privilege, not being pulled in lots of odd directions.”
In Edinburgh, as the dancers prepare for Swan Lake, a sense of camaraderie spills from the dressingrooms into the stage wings, where the cast members must make multiple quick changes between the ballet’s three acts. Rows of mirrors and make-up bags hang from the backstage curtain to allow for the quick application of the signature black stroke on each swan’s forehead, as well as for its fast removal, for changes in character.
The female ensemble dancers must also set up their prop stations carefully, complete with everything from masks to gloves and wigs.
“As the ensemble, we add the context to some of the scenes,” says Jade Copas, a dancer from Banbridge, Co Down, who joined New Adventures in 2021. “We have our little hats and our aprons, as you see. The quickest change in the whole show happens where we run backstage, unpin our hats, put a new hat on, take our apron off and put our aprons in a little pocket. There we have a pair of gloves. We put the gloves on, someone puts pearls on our necks and then we’re running to the wings and entering. That happens in the space of 20 seconds, maybe.”
If the backstage action challenges the ensemble dancers, the postperformance regroup can be the toughest part when dancing one of the leads, according to Murray.
“The challenge for me is definitely in this role,” he says. “It’s a very, very emotional role. We always talk about how hard the show is, like physically, but I do think with the prince, after the show, it still kind of stays with you for a bit, because you’re emotionally drained. I’d say out of everything, that’s the hardest thing. To leave it behind. Leaving it on the stage is a big challenge.”
Murray and Copas look forward to performing to a home audience in Dublin.
“It’s so special for me and also for my family,” Copas says. “I think because my mum and dad are so supportive, they’re able to fly anywhere I am and watch me in my shows. I’m so grateful for their support, always. But I have a lot of family who would never be able to make it overseas to see me. Being in Dublin, it’s not a far journey away. Even close friends from school who have never seen me dance before, this will be the first time. So I’m really excited.”
This will not be the first time Dublin audiences see Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake – it made its debut in the city in 2014 and returned in 2019 – yet this production has metamorphosised to change with the times. In addition to the swans’ increased fervour, and a black swan with a less overtly Russian influence, it features new costumes and more streamlined sets. Regardless of these shifting details, the compelling storyline remains constant.
“Everything that happened back then with Swan Lake was pretty unexpected and unheard of and not predicted by us, certainly,” Bourne says. “But there are other pieces I have interpreted, like Cinderella, that has my sort of family history in it, like the second World War Blitz, with my parents and grandparents, so that’s a more personal kind of reason for doing that piece.
“Some dances I’m proud of because I managed to make them happen, like Sleeping Beauty. It’s such a big thing to take on that sort of classic story. You’re also dealing with incredibly famous music. It can be quite tough to say, ‘Well, look at this version, it’s different.’ So I’m proud of those things.
“But Swan Lake will always be very special, because of what it’s done for us and also what it continues to do.”
Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake: The Next Generation is at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, as part of Dublin Dance Festival, from Tuesday, May 20th, until Saturday, May 24th
