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Wednesday 9 January 2013

Sleeping Beauty. Watching Audience. How perverted.


So it’s that time of year again ‘ Oh we’re off on a family outing to go to the theatre… I wonder what we’re going to see? Right, Sadlers Well’s, so far so good, very well known respectable theatre that one. Now, I wonder what we’re going to see… The ballet? The  ballet? The BALLET?????  You mean where nobody talks for three sodding hours and I have to pretend to be impressed because some lithe little ballerina can put her legs behind her head?’ This is the usual reaction when going to the ballet. Anorexic women and men in too tight tights (actually I don’t normally mind this bit) prancing around the stage pretending to tell a story when really they are just showing off. 

However Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty is a complete juxtaposition to what you would normally expect when you attend the ballet. He transforms a well-known fairy tale into a modern and stylish adaptation. Well not in the sense that Aurora has an IPod, the tale is still set in the 19th century. However  not only are  the set and costumes magical but so is the dancing. Matthew Bourne’s dancers are not your usual prissy bunch in tutus, they can actually move, mixing classical ballet with contemporary dance and jazz. Chief fairy  Count Lilac, (despite his rather camp namesake) is truly spectacular; your eyes cannot help follow him when he moves across the stage. He’s masculine and yet effortless and by the end of the performance I have convinced myself that I too could probably be a ballerina (I can’t, I tried, I failed).  The Count Lilac’s rival Caradoc (the evil fairy’s son) also has a sinister charm in his movements. As the fairy tale shifts in the 100 year sleep (also known as the interval) we are transported to the 21st century. Whilst this is made almost frustratingly obvious by the modern day attire of hoodies and jeans, it lends to the style of the piece well. When Caradoc is about to sacrifice Aurora, (God knows why? Because he can?) I almost want him to succeed, as I want to keep on watching him dance. Plus I think it would make a much more interesting storyline . Matthew Bourne has revolutionized Sleeping Beauty.  Whilst Aurora is all very well and pretty and dances like an angel (and still has to depend on a man to save her, tuh) it is the purple fairy and his evil counterpart that really steal the show. I would go as so far to say that I didn’t even mind being surrounded by a bunch of snotty private school girls who looked as though Jack Wills and Topshop had thrown up on them. Bravo, Matthew Bourne , Bravo, if I was wearing a hat, I would take it off to you.

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