Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty – Choreography With Bite!

Bram Stoker would be applauding from his grave if he could witness Matthew Bourne’s take on Sleeping Beauty, especially the bit where King of the Fairies, Count Lilac, sinks his Dracula-like fangs into the Royal Gamekeeper’s neck!

It’s a decade since I first saw the British choreographer’s Gothic dance marathon – part of a trilogy tribute to Russian musical master, Tchaikovsky – but seven years on from when it was last at the Alhambra, the ballet, with its rich colours and elaborate sets, has not dated one jot.

The beauty of fairy tales is that they never age but, sometimes, interpretations of them do. However, Bourne is so left of centre that audiences will always have an opinion but ‘boring’ or ‘timeworn’ will, I’m sure, never be one of them!

Lurking behind horn-rimmed spectacles Bourne, a talented late starter who didn’t take up dancing until the age of 22, is a hugely gifted man who clearly visualises his end product with complete clarity.

It only took a whiff of inspiration whilst visiting Tchaikovsky’s country retreat on the outskirts of St Petersburg, to convince him that he needed to complete the Russian master’s trilogy, three ballets – Swan Lake, the Nutcracker and finally Sleeping Beauty.

This time it was Paris Fitzpatrick’s turn to step up to the plate as the dark fairy Carabosse and her son Caradoc, following on from where Liam ‘Billy Elliot’ Mower left off in 2016: he didn’t disappoint, dancing both parts with power, strength, menace and dubious characterisation.

Unlike many so-called ‘classical’ companies Bourne’s troupe are largely a sturdy, powerful bunch and, at times, they seemingly border on contemporary style with strong angular lines although, of course, many are graduates of established ballet schools with a smattering from ‘all-round’ dance academies like Laine Theatre Arts.

Katrina Lyndon as Princess Aurora, is a case in point. A graduate of the Royal Ballet Schools, she was strong on technique and powerful, an absolute must for this exhausting role. But, in Stephen Murray as Leon, the Royal Gamekeeper she had an equally strong dance partner.

Sleeping Beauty may now be 10 years old but it still remains fresh and vibrant with its opulent colours, gothic costumes and dark brooding backdrop.

If I saw it tomorrow I’m sure I would see something different, the wonderful puppetry – yes, puppetry of the King and Queen’s child – the beautiful fairy tale setting, stunning costumes and, of course, inspired choreography.

Bourne did all his reading of the so-called Sleeping Beauty story before finally settling for a little inspiration from Walt Disney – the Prince and Princess meet, she pricks her finger courtesy of Caradoc’s rose, sleeps for a century and is then woken with a kiss. After a bit of fighting by the factions, they live happily ever after!

In some versions of the fairy tale the Prince and Princess only meet at the point of the magical kiss but Disney – and Bourne – felt this ‘love at first sight’ meeting was too limiting and not convincing enough, weakening the narrative, so they both sought to visualise young love at the outset of the couple’s first meeting to the close of the ballet, in a bid to make it a more convincing love story.

At the interval a young lady commented that she had just seen her first ever opera. It was one of the ‘heavy’ ones and had put her off. However, this was her first ballet and she had loved it. That’s because Bourne’s sleeping beauty is full of magic and will have you spellbound from start to finish.

Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty
Alhambra, Bradford
Until Saturday 25th February