Matthew Bourne on Swan Lake: we’re still talking about it 30 years later

Sir Matthew Bourne enthusiastically describes the importance of telling a story through dance. “I don’t believe in scenarios in programs. I want people to take the journey of the play without knowing what will happen next. It’s like watching a great movie: you don’t know what the ending is and it affects you. Why should dance be any different? I’m really against the need to read everything before watching it.

“My principle, when I create a piece,” he continues, “is that someone looks without knowing anything. The curtain rises and it’s my job to tell them a story that they can follow or that will ignite their imagination.

We are here to discuss the rebirth of its Swan Lake almost 30 years after its premiere. He explains: “The idea of ​​a Swan Lake with male swans came to mind years before I even started training. It was just watching the ballet,” and he concedes, “I saw it. A plot! »

He explains: “It was the first ballet I saw and I was already 18 years old. I came to dance late. I told myself that if I wanted to try ballet, I should go see a famous ballet. Years before starting my training at Laban, at the age of 22, I was a big fan of dance and saw everything many times, with many different actors.

His thoughts began to form after seeing Anthony Dowell and Natalia Makarova on video in a Royal Ballet production of Swan Lake in the early 1980s. “I watched it over and over again,” he says enthusiastically. “I remember thinking: this prince always says no, he will never marry unless it is out of true love. And the queen is constantly trying to marry him off. I thought, what is going on here? I never thought I would have the desire or the possibility to put on a full ballet.

In 1987, Bourne founded Adventures in Motion Pictures and in 1992, Opera North commissioned him to create a new film. Nutcracker as part of a double bill at the Edinburgh Festival. “I had never dreamed of taking on one of the ballet classics. Why would I do it? We were a company of six dancers! We had a quirky reputation doing small and medium scale tours. And we were happy to do that.

Changes were underway, he explains. “We received this commission with a big budget to grow the business. The idea of ​​telling a story with a piece of music that had been written to tell a story was very, very appealing. Nutcracker! was considered interesting and somewhat successful in Edinburgh and discussions began to do another. Swan Lake was the one I wanted to do. He acknowledges that “the Arts Council took a huge leap of faith in giving us money for a project. And another step forward for Sadler’s Wells who can book him for two and a half weeks.

Bourne returned to his earlier thoughts and ideas began to re-emerge, particularly about the implications of the story if they were to change the sex of the swans. “We had to think about a contemporary royal prince and his behavior that was in the news every day at that time, with Charles, Diana, Camilla and Fergie. All the characters seemed to be in our play. I thought if anyone If someone wrote something about it, it would be: shock horror – Prince Charles in a gay ballet – that would be a scandal. But no one talked about it!

Although Bourne didn’t know it at the time, Adam Cooperwho was to be the original Bourne Swan/Stranger, went to see a performance of highland adventure (Bourne’s version of The Sylphide) and expressed interest in working together.

“Adam made a big difference in the direction the play took,” says Bourne. “Almost like a creature from another world!” I had seen a lot of him with the Royal Ballet and knew he was a brilliant presence on stage, but I wanted it to be worth it, having made this big decision to come to us. That must have been pretty scary for him. I approached it with a little more seriousness. Not that I ever intended for it to be funny all the way through – you can’t laugh for two and a half hours. There has to be passion and heart. But he pushed me in that direction because he wanted it to live up to his decision so badly.

“I had to go to the Royal Opera House office to ask permission from Anthony Dowell,” Bourne recalls. “He looked a little doubtful when he asked, ‘So you want Adam to be the Swan?’ I said yes and he asked, “Is there still a prince?” When I nodded, he kind of looked to the side and said, “Oh my God…” But he was very gracious and told me later that he would have loved to do it himself.

I’m curious how nervous Bourne was about his reception. “We talked about it a lot before the first evening. A lot of people said I wasn’t the right person to do a new Swan Lakeit’s just going to be a stupid send off. I think people really couldn’t imagine what a male swan would look like. The image of the ballerina was deeply rooted in culture. I think they half expected the men in Act 2 to arrive in tutus, in drag. We weren’t convinced it was going to be successful, but we thought it was going to be interesting. We couldn’t have predicted where this was going. It was terrifying! There was a lot to play with on it. I remember being frozen in fear, unable to speak. It was an extraordinary evening! And then the image of Adam’s first entrance was so surprising.

I can’t help but remind him how hot Cooper was. “I think horn is a good word to describe it! There’s no escaping it.

“Some people had difficulty accepting Swan Lake being shown in a new light. I remember having a conversation with Beryl Gray who gave me the Olivier for best new production. She was lovely, but she said she couldn’t come see it because it was too special for her. There was a bit of ballet snobbery when people said the choreography was a bit repetitive. Anyone who watches a classical ballet knows that the steps are often repeated. I had the ballet structure in mind when I was creating it. The vast majority of the public really embraced it.

The success of Swan Lake putting additional pressure on new Bourne productions. He says frankly: “The pressure started when we were doing Swan Lake in the West End, eight shows a week. No dancer in the company had ever done this. We had to find a way to handle incredible opportunities, like going to Los Angeles and Broadway and dealing with rehearsals, dancers and injuries. We’d often get cheered on by the crowd, then we’d come in the next day and have to sort things out. It was hard. It changed our lives, but there was a lot to experience along the way.

“Thinking about doing another song, the anxiety was like second album syndrome. Cinderella And Car man were the following. I had the opportunity to bring them back and improve them, work on them and learn from what I’ve done before. I don’t give up on shows if I really like them.

I ask how much Swan Lake has changed since 1995. He smiles and says, “I made some changes this week. I always think: could we do better with this? I think it’s a particularly British thing. It’s about improvement. For me, it’s about ownership on the part of the dancers, but also about what I’ve learned from the audience, what they need and what they value. We need to be open to the people we work with because they will all be different.

Bourne never thought the production would be revived as much as it was. “In 2000, we did a season at the Dominion and on the poster we put: Last time in London. We thought everyone had seen it – that’s not true! We found that the more works we bring back, the more popular they become.

We return to the topic of storytelling and he gives me an example of reacting to drama on stage. “Take act 4: the swans are around the bed. If someone asked me what was going on, I would tie myself in knots trying to make it seem reasonable. It’s crazy what’s happening on stage. I can’t put it into words, but people end up crying. This is because it affects you personally. This is what dance can do so brilliantly and why people feel emotional. This goes to a deeper place. We shouldn’t put this into words. It affects you in a visceral way.

Will Bourne create new works soon? “I don’t know,” he replies. “I’m not looking for something, but if it comes, it will be a natural thing. I always say I’m boring and happy with what I did! And I love having a business. That’s my job, to feed the dancers and we have this list of shows to do that.

“I’ve been very lucky and accomplished a lot of things I wanted to do. Very few people get the chance to do this, and they are all passion projects: Cinderella, The red shoes, Edward Scissorhands. It has to be special. Never do anything just to fill a void.

“A beautiful thing has happened over the years. The audience just needs to know it’s us, even if they don’t know the play. They will come anyway. Loyalty warms the heart.

That of Matthew Bourne Visits to Swan Lake from November 11, 2024.