The Car Man tour announces casting

Casting has been revealed for the return of The Car Man, scheduled to embark on a UK tour from 15 June.

Matthew Bourne’s award-winning dance thriller was first seen in 2000, and this new production is the first since 2015.

The New Adventures piece is loosely based on Bizet’s popular opera Carmen, and is set in a garage diner in the 1960s.

Directed and choreographed by Bourne, The Car Man has music by Terry Davies and Rodion Shchedrin’s Carmen Suite (after Bizet’s Carmen), with sound by Paul Groothuis, lighting by Chris Davey and design by Lez Brotherston.

The cast will be led by Will Bozier and Harrison Dowzell, both former lead Swans in Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake, sharing the role of Luca, and Cordelia Braithwaite and Ashley Shaw alternating as Lana. They are joined by Leonardo McCorkindale and Harry Ondrak-Wright as Angelo, Anna Maria de Freitas and Kurumi Kamayachi as Rita, and Danny Reubens and Alan Vincent, who originated the role of Luca, as Dino.

The ensemble features Jack Frame, Serena McCall, Rae Miller, Jack Widdowson and Karishma Young, all maing their New Adventures debuts, alongside returning New Adventures performers, Tanisha Addicott, Jamie Duncan-Campbell, Cameron Flynn, Rory Macleod, Callum Mann, Eleanor McGrath, Jarrod McWilliams, Eve Ngbokota, Nikolas Shikkis, Xavier Andriambolanoro-Sotiya and Lyra Treglown.

Bourne said today: “As we announce a thrilling new 2026 cast for our dance thriller, The Car Man, it’s interesting to reflect on how iconic, unique and sought after the leading roles in this show have become since it was made in 2000. We are still the only company in the world to perform this production and yet the roles of Luca, Lana, Angelo, Rita and Dino have become as legendary as the show itself and a unique part of the UK dance landscape for several generations of young dancers. I’m proud that New Adventures never just ‘revives’ a show; we re-invent, question and grow with each new cast, which is why I’m so excited to revisit the small town of Harmony this summer and, much like Luca himself, shake things up a bit!”

The Car Man will visit 17 venues next year, including a 5-week summer season at Sadler’s Wells in London. The tour will open at Curve, Leicester, on 15 June before visiting Salford, Hull, Milton Keynes, Plymouth, Sheffield, Bristol, Newcastle, Southampton, Nottingham, Norwich, Birmingham, Bradford, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Canterbury, Eastbourne and Amsterdam.