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Bourne’s Swan Lake set for Empire and Lowry

Matthew Bourne, the highly acclaimed choreographer, has his celebrated re-working of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake visiting the North West later this month and in March. This follows his versions of Dorian Gray and Edward Scissorhands.

Tickets have already gone on sale at Liverpool’s Empire theatre and Salford’s The Lowry, as dance fans can catch the show at both venues in February and March respectively.

Bourne, who is known for injecting modern twists into old tales, last visited the region with his latest dance piece, Dorian Gray fresh from its huge success at the Edinburgh Festival. 

Since its 1995 world premiere at Sadler’s Wells, Bourne’s Swan Lake has become the longest running ballet in the London’s West End and on Broadway. It has enjoyed two successful tours in the UK and in Los Angeles, Europe and Japan.

Speaking about his reasons for wanting to re-work Swan Lake, Bourne said: “I could see an opportunity to create a human story, with the potential for great dramatic power and range, indulge my satirical and humorous leanings as well as create whole suites of abstract movement to some of the best dance music ever written. Irresistible!”

Originally written by Tchaikovsky in the late 19th century, Swan Lake was staged at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre in 1877, but it wasn’t until 18 years later - and after the death of its composer - that it was finally staged in St Petersburg, and became a universal classic.

Bourne’s Swan Lake has collected over thirty international theatre awards including three Tonys for the Broadway production. As the director and choreographer for Swan Lake, Bourne is the only British director to have won the Tony Award for Best Director and Best Choreographer of a musical in the same year, thus being ten years ago in 1999.

The most talked about innovation in this production is the casting of a male dancer in the coveted role of Odette/Odile known as the Swan. Bourne adds: “The idea of a male swan makes complete sense to me. The strength, the beauty, the enormous wingspan of these creatures suggests to me the musculature of a male dancer more readily than a ballerina in her white tutu.”

Swan Lake has gone through many different interpretations since its creation by Tchaikovsky. Bourne’s production retains two of the essentials that make Swan Lake so universally loved, Tchaikovsky’s score and the story of our constant yearning for an unattainable ideal.

Swan Lake visits the Liverpool Empire for one week only from 22-27 February 2010, for tickets call 0844 847 2525. It then visits The Lowry in Salford for a week on 1-6 March 2010, and can booked on 0870 787 5780.

To read the Whatsonstage.com review of Swan Lake, click here

- by Michael Hunt & Glenn Meads

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