Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake is the modern twist on traditional ballet.
With modern twists that we can all relate to fused with a traditional forbidden love story, this adaptation of Tchaikovsky’s classic show offers something for every audience.
Ballet holds a stigma, to be blunt, of upper-class snobbery, but this version of Swan Lake takes the traditional tutu filled stage and brings it right down to earth.
Without a fluffy skirt in sight, the performance at the Liverpool Empire was almost overpowering, casting aside the ‘dainty’ ballerina stigma with a powerful all-male group of swans.
The story tells of a young prince, who is following his mother’s orders in all parts of his life. Duty bound as a royal, he stumbles across a girlfriend.
The young girl is far from what the Queen expects as a daughter in law. With bad manners, low intellect and tacky dress sense. A particularly comical scene see her making a mockery of a trip to the grande ballet, laughing loudly at the ‘men in tights’.
After this, she’s quickly made to ‘dissapear’ by the Queen's private secretary, who pays her off to never come back.
The Prince, who is starved of affection contemplates suicide in a park, where he is first confronted by a group of beautiful and masculine swans, one of which he falls in love with.
From there on, he is struggling to come to terms with his feelings, living the life of a prince, for whom people have certain expectations.
The final scene sees a party held at the palace, with many people around, a cocky stranger turns up, wooing the women (including the Queen). The prince is attracted to the stranger, as he resembles his new love,the lead swan form the lake. He attempts to show the stranger affection only to be rebuffed.
The Prince retreats into his mind and imagines dancing intimately with him, but the his confusion interrupts the fantasy, and the son's movements turn quickly from loving to violent. The Prince imagines the other guests at the ball laughing and ridiculing him. Overwhelmed by his conflicted feelings, he produces a pistol and threatens to shoot his mother.
In a scuffle a lady guest attempts to retrieve the gun from the prince, only to be shot herself. He is then dragged away, deemed insane and thrown into a mental asylum.
The final scene is easily one of the most emotional in theatre. The lead Swan finds the Prince at the asylum, and shows him true love and affection, but this is to the dismay of all the other swans, who don’t like that their leader loves another more than he loves them.
They attack both lovers, violently killing them both – with the final image seen by the audience of the swan and prince embracing in death, able to be together in peace.
This ballet will make you laugh and cry. It will take your breath away with the sheer strength of the male swans, as well as the fantastic performances by the rest of the company.
By Rebecca Keegan
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