Swan Lake (tour – Bishop's Stortford)
The music is basically the familiar Tchaikovsky score, but subtly filtered by Simon Patterson to fit the new scenario. This retains some supernatural elements, but they are now rooted in what one might call the "back story".
We are not in some mythical fairy-tale realm but somewhere which resembles the Russia of the tsars with a half-history, half-folklore hinterland. The Prince (David Brewer) has met the girl he thinks he wants – Odette (Inĕz Ferreira).
The more sophisticated court members mock her naïveté and innocence. Hovering on its outskirts is the ambitious Rothbart with Rasputin-like hypnotic powers (Vincent Cabot). He is scheming to replace Odette with his own daughter Odile (Jessica Hill). Both these become more substantial roles than in the familiar Pepita-Ivanov version – or indeed through Matthew Bourne's own variation of the story.
Claire Corruble dances the Queen; again, hers is a far more active role than in other versions. This widow is rather a merry one; her captain of the guard is in very close attendance. The Prince is sincere when he swears undying love to Odette, just as later on when besotted by the mirror-image Odile.
Visually, Dan Hope's designs keep our eyes engaged. The court wears basically autumnal colours, augmented with a sombre purple for the ball scene. No tutus for the swan corps but softly layered skirts dipping at the back to suggest a bird's plumage. Odette wears a white robe of Grecian simplicity; Odile challenges her in sophisticated black.
The music for the cygnet pas de quatre is danced by two female swans and their male counterparts in feathered tailcoats. The final scene includes a ferocious fight between the Prince and Rothbart and Odile's intervention when the man she loves even more than she does her father is defeated.
Moore's choreography is fitted to his scenario; it has all the traditional classical element, allowing his young company to show both their lyricism and impressive technique. There are some good jumps and turns from the boys and rock-steady pointe steps from the girls.
Both Ferreira and Hill capture the essence of their characters – so different and yet in so many ways each other's distorted reflection. Corruble and Cabot seize on their expanded opportunities and Brewer makes the most of his solos, especially in he ball scene (no Legnani fouettés for Odile in this version).
It's not "Swan Lake" as you may expect it to be. But it is a valid reinterpretation for a young company and an audience which may well find the conventions of traditional classical ballet confusing to interpret at first encounter.
Swan Lake tours nationally until 21 December.
