Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty

When I was a child one of the few pieces of recorded music I had was a copy of Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty; a boxed set of old shellac 78rpm disks, lovingly preserved in their original brown paper sleeves and stacked in a presentation cardboard box. They were probably dating from the 1920's. I wore out all the needles long before the records became unplayable. Never having seen Sleeping Beauty staged I wondered whether it would live up to my imagination. But Leicester Curve's presentation was a Matthew Bourne touring production so all expectations were guaranteed to be surpassed.
Billed as a Gothic Romance Bourne has taken a few liberties with the traditional story but they are few and far between. The main difference being that the man Beauty falls in love with is the gardener, not the Handsome Prince. Apart from that and a tiny vampiric reference to explain how her lover is still around after 100 years (surely enough of a reason for all Twilighters to sample the delights of ballet!), all is as to be expected.
The stage opens on a spectacular castle bedroom where the baby Aurora (Sleeping Beauty of the title) is being mischievous in the form of a very realistic puppet, thus providing some comedy relief in the first act. It is explained in titling projected onto the front cloth that the childless monarchy has made a pact with a witch in lieu of IVF. Their bargain is, of course, forgotten in the excitement of the newborn child and the evil Carabosse extracts her revenge by cursing the child and ensuring she pricks her finger on her 21st and falls into a deep sleep. The good fairies of the kingdom, while unable to reverse the curse can ensure that a kiss from her true love will awaken her.
With Carabosse morphing into her equally evil son, Caradoc (played by the same dancer) a happy ending is far from simple. Much pantomime villainy accompanied by the usual bevy of topless boy dancers ensures that the story bounds along nicely. Huge set pieces fill the stage with beautiful ensemble productions and awesome solo dances enable the principles to show off their talents.
Much praise needs to go to the costumier. I dread to think how many actual costumes are needed on this production. With a timeline that spans 121 years many periods have to be clothed. The set is unbelievably complex and is more suited to a residency than a touring production. Once again Matthew Bourne has provided us with a show that would sit comfortably in London's West End.

© Paul Towers 10/4/2013