Swan Lake, beloved by all, is the story of Prince Siegfried, who, upon encountering a flock of swans while hunting, falls in love with the cursed Princess Odette (the White Swan). She explains that the curse may only be broken by a vow of true love. At the ball, Prince Siegfried is tricked by the sorcerer’s daughter Odile (the Black Swan), as he mistakenly vows to marry her. Prince Siegfried, heartbroken, seeks out Princess Odette by the lake begging for forgiveness. They die; their love unified in death.
In Matthew Bourne’s rendition, Swan Lake becomes a modern retelling entangled with a queer, forbidden love story of passionate desire, partnered with parodic allusions to the political unease of the British Royal Family in the 90s. The classical ballet is turned on its head through a story of a young prince and his desire to be freed from the constraints of royal expectations. In sharp contrast to the classical presentations of the elegant swans traditional to the ballet Swan Lake, Bourne’s swans are fierce, intense and masculine in every sense.
Taking shape through the marriage of incredible costuming and fierce and dynamic choreography, the chemistry of the performance was electric.
While the traditionally female swans wear intricate feathered and jewelled tutus, Bourne’s swans are dark and mysterious, their chiselled upper bodies on full display, highlighting their masculine lines within the sharp choreography. Their feathered trousers seamlessly melted into the dancer’s skin whilst dark eyeliner marked the fierce and wild nature of these swans. An important point of difference is that these male dancers are not en pointe. This choice meant choreography heavily focused on dynamic jumps and fierce lines, their swan arms a far cry from the delicate contortions of the ballerinas. While I was slightly disappointed by the loss of the 32 fouettés in Act III’s pas de deux, Act II’s pas de quatre was a humorous interpretation. With slight allusion to the popular presentation of the four swans interlinked through mirrored movements, Bourne’s interpretation highlights the chaos and high-energy of the contrasting male swans in this scene. Through maintaining the fun and light-hearted tone of this scene, the choreography highlights, the transgressive nature of these animalistic male swans, through playful movement of head cocking likened to those of birds and untraditional bent and flexed feet (more common in modern styles of dance).
In addition to the expertise in the costuming and choreography of the swans, the costuming of The Girlfriend was particularly intriguing. Dressed in a fuchsia bubble mini dress, this character played an important role in highlighting the distinct separations between social class – an important theme highlighted in this ballet. This theme is most distinctly presented when The Girlfriend’s costuming is directly opposed to the sophisticated and opulent dressings of The Queen; The Girlfriend’s hot pink mini dress singles her out from the expectations of high society. Despite the transgressive nature of her role in this ballet, The Girlfriend is easily the most likeable character. Genuine and kind, she presents a narrative for those overlooked within high society.
Humour is present throughout this ballet, cutting through the dark metaphors of sexual repression and acting as an undercurrent to the motivations of the prince. Though tonally the change between humour and darkness presented a slight emotional whiplash, humour did act to slice through the storyline of a young prince depressed by his life of repression.
All of this is to say, Bourne’s ballet is rich and suggests deeper considerations at every single design choice. Every moment of this ballet signalled precision that artfully presents Bourne’s interpretation of the ballet’s meaning. Swan Lake no longer exists with motifs of vulnerable and defenceless swans, Bourne has rewritten the narrative, reclaiming Swan Lake as a powerful political statement.
Image by Johan Persson via Capital Theatres