0:00:08 > 0:00:12- Matthew Bourne is in the final stages of rehearsal... - That's better.
0:00:12 > 0:00:16..of his much-anticipated new dance work, Sleeping Beauty.
0:00:21 > 0:00:24It's due to open here at Sadler's Wells Theatre
0:00:24 > 0:00:25in just a few minutes' time.
0:00:28 > 0:00:32For tonight's Imagine we follow Matthew and his team
0:00:32 > 0:00:36from day one through every stage of the creative process.
0:01:01 > 0:01:05Matthew Bourne made his international reputation
0:01:05 > 0:01:08with a version of Swan Lake in which he amazed us all
0:01:08 > 0:01:11with a male corps de ballet of swans.
0:01:15 > 0:01:19Over the last 25 years, Bourne has choreographed and directed
0:01:19 > 0:01:23over 30 productions, establishing a reputation
0:01:23 > 0:01:26as our most popular and innovative dance maker.
0:01:27 > 0:01:30There's no-one quite like Matthew.
0:01:30 > 0:01:33I mean, he's created dance narratives
0:01:33 > 0:01:36that appeal across all boundaries.
0:01:37 > 0:01:41It's interesting that Matthew, for me,
0:01:41 > 0:01:45has done the three English musicals -
0:01:47 > 0:01:51My Fair Lady, Oliver and, of course, Mary Poppins.
0:01:51 > 0:01:54# Link your elbows, step in time Link your elbows, step in time
0:01:54 > 0:01:57# Never need a reason Never need a rhyme
0:01:57 > 0:01:59# Link your elbows, step in time. #
0:01:59 > 0:02:01The secret of his success
0:02:01 > 0:02:05is the rigour with which he conceives his storytelling
0:02:05 > 0:02:09means there is an extraordinary directness about this work
0:02:09 > 0:02:12which communicates to any audience.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17It's a return to the notion
0:02:17 > 0:02:21of dance as entertainment in the 19th-century sense.
0:02:26 > 0:02:28Before his iconic Swan Lake,
0:02:28 > 0:02:33he choreographed Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker in 1992.
0:02:35 > 0:02:40It introduced a new emphasis on storytelling in dance.
0:02:47 > 0:02:50Sleeping beauty will complete Bourne's trilogy
0:02:50 > 0:02:52of Tchaikovsky's ballets.
0:02:54 > 0:02:55OK, shall we start?
0:02:58 > 0:03:01So, welcome, everyone. Welcome to Sleeping Beauty.
0:03:01 > 0:03:03A new adventure.
0:03:03 > 0:03:05CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:03:05 > 0:03:08Before he starts to create the work,
0:03:08 > 0:03:10Matthew gathers his entire team together -
0:03:10 > 0:03:15dancers, technicians and designers - and talks through his ideas.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18The thing that, sort of, drew me to it was the timeline
0:03:18 > 0:03:21because it's really interesting to play with.
0:03:21 > 0:03:23In some of the productions that I've seen,
0:03:23 > 0:03:25the time difference is so far away from us
0:03:25 > 0:03:26that you don't really recognise
0:03:26 > 0:03:29that they've moved forward 100 years in costume design.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32So I've worked out we've to start it in 1890,
0:03:32 > 0:03:37and 1890 is the date of the premiere of Sleeping Beauty the ballet,
0:03:37 > 0:03:39so if there's a 100-year interval -
0:03:39 > 0:03:42which I think that's a really interesting thing to say,
0:03:42 > 0:03:43you know, interval, 100 years, ha, ha, ha,
0:03:43 > 0:03:45I'm sure they'll get a little laugh maybe -
0:03:45 > 0:03:47and then we come back and we're in the present day
0:03:47 > 0:03:48or, like, two years ago.
0:03:49 > 0:03:53Bourne's new production will be another telling of the story
0:03:53 > 0:03:56that stretches back to the 14th century.
0:03:58 > 0:04:00The most recognisable Sleeping Beauty
0:04:00 > 0:04:06is from an Arthurian romance called Perceforest,
0:04:06 > 0:04:09which is so big that it's probably the size of 12 Moby Dicks,
0:04:09 > 0:04:14but anyway, in one scene is pretty much the recognisable fairy tale
0:04:14 > 0:04:19with the spindle, she pricks her finger, she falls asleep,
0:04:19 > 0:04:22but then there are some differences.
0:04:22 > 0:04:24Her father puts her in a tower
0:04:24 > 0:04:27because he's hoping that a god will come,
0:04:27 > 0:04:30but in fact it isn't a god that comes - it's Troilus.
0:04:30 > 0:04:36And I'm afraid that we are then in a scene not suitable for children
0:04:36 > 0:04:41and he does indeed, as it says in this romance, "pluck the fruit".
0:04:41 > 0:04:44Many children have been transfixed
0:04:44 > 0:04:49by the 19th-century version of the story by the Brothers Grimm,
0:04:49 > 0:04:54as well as Walt Disney's 1959 animated film.
0:04:54 > 0:04:58The much-loved ballet version of The Sleeping Beauty
0:04:58 > 0:05:01has been with us now for over 100 years.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07And with each retelling in literature and dance,
0:05:07 > 0:05:11the story is adapted to reflect contemporary sensibilities.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16The morals of the time have become much more important
0:05:16 > 0:05:20since they become established as children's stories.
0:05:20 > 0:05:22You can see it in the films,
0:05:22 > 0:05:25the strain of them trying to be ethnically correct,
0:05:25 > 0:05:29not to cross the feminists, and that started quite a long time ago.
0:05:29 > 0:05:32I mean, the Victorians were very, very involved in that
0:05:32 > 0:05:35and that is part of fairy tales' transformation -
0:05:35 > 0:05:38one can't just throw that out and say we mustn't censor
0:05:38 > 0:05:41because there is no original.
0:05:43 > 0:05:45This is a cauldron, you know?
0:05:45 > 0:05:48All the elements are in there, but they are mixed in a different way
0:05:48 > 0:05:50by every person who comes along.
0:05:50 > 0:05:56And it felt to me that it didn't have a good love story.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59It's basically someone she's never even met,
0:05:59 > 0:06:02so this prince kisses her, she wakes up and she looks at him
0:06:02 > 0:06:05and the next thing you know they're getting married,
0:06:05 > 0:06:08so you don't really feel anything at all, I don't think.
0:06:08 > 0:06:10So we've created this story,
0:06:10 > 0:06:14which is about Aurora being in love with someone
0:06:14 > 0:06:19who then has the problem of trying to stay alive for her when she wakes up.
0:06:19 > 0:06:22And this is where the idea of vampires came into play a little bit.
0:06:22 > 0:06:26This came through True Blood, actually, from watching True Blood
0:06:26 > 0:06:29about that whole community of vampires and stuff,
0:06:29 > 0:06:32so that, sort of, brought that idea into play
0:06:32 > 0:06:34of turning the Lilac Fairy into Count Lilac,
0:06:34 > 0:06:36who is sort of a vampiric fairy
0:06:36 > 0:06:40and can, sort of, give Leo the gift of being alive when she wakes up.
0:06:40 > 0:06:42Basically, it's a fairy story, yeah?
0:06:42 > 0:06:44And we don't have to explain everything,
0:06:44 > 0:06:46so spells and magic and things.
0:06:46 > 0:06:48'I think that what he does very well
0:06:48 > 0:06:55'is he understands what the emotional centre of the story is.'
0:06:55 > 0:06:59I think he's very clever at cutting his cloth to fit
0:06:59 > 0:07:06and one of the pleasures of going to see his Tchaikovsky dance works
0:07:06 > 0:07:09is seeing the way that he's got round
0:07:09 > 0:07:12the inherent problems of the music and the score.
0:07:26 > 0:07:30The music for this production is being pre-recorded
0:07:30 > 0:07:33and the orchestra gathers at AIR Studios to perform
0:07:33 > 0:07:36one of Tchaikovsky's most rewarding scores.
0:07:37 > 0:07:43'Today's the first day of the orchestral recording for Sleeping Beauty.'
0:07:47 > 0:07:50And it's the first time I've had the chance to hear our version,
0:07:50 > 0:07:53which is a little different here and there,
0:07:53 > 0:07:56some edits and some reorderings
0:07:56 > 0:07:58and some little cuts here and there,
0:07:58 > 0:08:01so it's the first time I'll be able to hear it as I want it.
0:08:11 > 0:08:15So can we just cover a couple of little transition points?
0:08:15 > 0:08:18Before two, before figure two...
0:08:18 > 0:08:22'This process has been a difficult one for Brett, the conductor, and I'
0:08:22 > 0:08:25in some ways because it's not choreographed yet,
0:08:25 > 0:08:29but what we do have is a sense of the plot and the action.
0:08:29 > 0:08:34There's head scratching going on, which is never good sign.
0:08:34 > 0:08:36'Brett and myself have had several meetings
0:08:36 > 0:08:39'where we've gone through with him on the piano.'
0:08:39 > 0:08:42I think for Brett it's more important, rather than just,
0:08:42 > 0:08:45"Oh, this tempo, a little faster, little slower,"
0:08:45 > 0:08:47he wants to know what the action's going to be so he can interpret,
0:08:47 > 0:08:50he wants to know what the ideas for the piece are
0:08:50 > 0:08:52so he's got a clear idea of the story now
0:08:52 > 0:08:55and what we're trying to say with each section of music,
0:08:55 > 0:08:56cos sometimes it's quite different
0:08:56 > 0:08:58from what goes on in the classical ballet.
0:09:02 > 0:09:05Uniquely, Tchaikovsky worked in parallel
0:09:05 > 0:09:08with the original choreographer, Marius Petipa,
0:09:08 > 0:09:12to create a ballet in which the music was written
0:09:12 > 0:09:13with the action in mind.
0:09:16 > 0:09:18100 years ago, this was a radical idea.
0:09:20 > 0:09:22It's so satisfying dancing
0:09:22 > 0:09:26when the music and the choreography works together as one.
0:09:28 > 0:09:30Lots of people think of Sleeping Beauty
0:09:30 > 0:09:32being a piece that belongs in a museum.
0:09:32 > 0:09:36Now, I see it that you only put special things in a museum
0:09:36 > 0:09:39and I see it as a positive that it's a piece to be treasured
0:09:39 > 0:09:45and I think you have to really dance it with that respect,
0:09:45 > 0:09:48which is, you know, our respect to Petipa
0:09:48 > 0:09:50for producing such a masterpiece.
0:10:00 > 0:10:04Some of the music we use for the action it was written for,
0:10:04 > 0:10:06but the action will be different.
0:10:06 > 0:10:08You know, I'm not going to suddenly
0:10:08 > 0:10:11put Aurora dancing to a Carabosse theme, you know?
0:10:11 > 0:10:13It's not going to work that way,
0:10:13 > 0:10:16so I try to be true to the music as much as possible
0:10:16 > 0:10:19but with an open mind.
0:10:20 > 0:10:24So, you know, it's starting to shape itself in my way now
0:10:24 > 0:10:27rather than Petipa's.
0:10:31 > 0:10:34I've got to that point now where I've watched so many versions of the ballet
0:10:34 > 0:10:38from different companies and different eras and different times,
0:10:38 > 0:10:41so it is very much embedded in my mind with the music
0:10:41 > 0:10:46and I feel I've got to that stage now where I mustn't watch it any more
0:10:46 > 0:10:49because I have to start imagining the music in a different way.
0:10:59 > 0:11:03I read you saying, "I believe you can be cured by music.
0:11:03 > 0:11:07"When I was ill, if I put on my favourite music it would make me better."
0:11:07 > 0:11:12Yes, absolutely loved music. Interestingly, not classical music.
0:11:12 > 0:11:17I wasn't brought up in a house that listened to classical music at all.
0:11:17 > 0:11:23We loved musical theatre, pop music, I guess,
0:11:23 > 0:11:26but mainly musical theatre, and right from the very earliest stage,
0:11:26 > 0:11:28four or five, I was wanting to put on a show
0:11:28 > 0:11:31and get other people to get involved in it
0:11:31 > 0:11:32and I would go and see a movie,
0:11:32 > 0:11:34usually a Disney movie or something like that,
0:11:34 > 0:11:37or Chitty Chitty Bang Bang or something like that,
0:11:37 > 0:11:39one of those kinds of movies that was out when I was growing up,
0:11:39 > 0:11:42and then I'd want to recreate it when I got home
0:11:42 > 0:11:45and I was always...the star.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49I was always Dick Van Dyke, it always seemed to me,
0:11:49 > 0:11:54around that time, doing Mary Poppins and various films I'd seen.
0:11:54 > 0:12:00I mean, when did you first encounter your great idol, Fred?
0:12:00 > 0:12:04I think my parents were both big Fred Astaire fans
0:12:04 > 0:12:06and they would make me sit down and watch his movies, I think,
0:12:06 > 0:12:08on TV, when they were on TV.
0:12:09 > 0:12:13I do find a connection with him, in some ways.
0:12:17 > 0:12:20If you think of the way Fred introduced dancing into a film,
0:12:20 > 0:12:24it would start with walking and it seemed a very natural to people.
0:12:30 > 0:12:34It's that classic thing that people say if they don't like musicals,
0:12:34 > 0:12:36as soon as they start to burst into song
0:12:36 > 0:12:38they find it uncomfortable and awkward
0:12:38 > 0:12:40and they don't know why they're doing it
0:12:40 > 0:12:43and I think he was very clever at that with the dancing.
0:12:43 > 0:12:45It was a way in for a lot of people.
0:12:45 > 0:12:49So I spent quite a few years trying to get close to this world.
0:12:49 > 0:12:52In my early teen years it was going into the West End
0:12:52 > 0:12:54and going to opening nights and meeting people,
0:12:54 > 0:12:58however briefly, to ask for their autograph.
0:12:58 > 0:13:01And I did this for several years with a friend of mine from school.
0:13:01 > 0:13:05We used to go up after school on the 38 bus into the West End
0:13:05 > 0:13:09and go to all of the opening nights, several nights a week,
0:13:09 > 0:13:11and weekends were...
0:13:11 > 0:13:15Saturdays were stage door days or hotels
0:13:15 > 0:13:18and it was a way of getting close, and the dance thing,
0:13:18 > 0:13:21although it was there very early on in my love of Astaire
0:13:21 > 0:13:23and movie musicals and things, you know,
0:13:23 > 0:13:27I didn't discover ballet or contemporary dance until late teens,
0:13:27 > 0:13:29after I'd left school,
0:13:29 > 0:13:34and it took me until the age of 22 to get to the point
0:13:34 > 0:13:38where I thought I should go and study dance specifically.
0:13:42 > 0:13:46With three years at the Laban Institute under his belt,
0:13:46 > 0:13:48and after a few minor pieces,
0:13:48 > 0:13:52Bourne made a work that became his first popular success.
0:13:52 > 0:13:57Spitfire, which contains all his hallmarks.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00It was my first little "hit",
0:14:00 > 0:14:02if you see it that way.
0:14:02 > 0:14:05It's based on something most people wouldn't know that well,
0:14:05 > 0:14:08this supposedly famous Pas De Quatre -
0:14:08 > 0:14:11the four top ballerinas of the 19th century.
0:14:14 > 0:14:16I decided to mix this
0:14:16 > 0:14:19with catalogues of men
0:14:19 > 0:14:21posing in underwear,
0:14:21 > 0:14:24arms round each other, like they're in the pub or something.
0:14:24 > 0:14:27Or on the golf course, but wearing underwear...
0:14:27 > 0:14:30and being chummy with each other. I always thought it was very funny.
0:14:30 > 0:14:35MUSIC: "Don Quixote-Pas De Deux" by Minkus
0:14:38 > 0:14:41I never knew such a whacky combination in my life.
0:14:41 > 0:14:43It's so often the case with the great choreographers
0:14:43 > 0:14:46you can sort of see the different layers they put together.
0:14:46 > 0:14:48But how do they think of connecting
0:14:48 > 0:14:50underwear, Romantic ballet
0:14:50 > 0:14:53and music, which isn't Romantic ballet music...
0:14:53 > 0:14:55it's Imperial Russian 19th-century ballet music.
0:14:55 > 0:14:59How did he put these three together? I don't know. It makes me laugh.
0:15:01 > 0:15:04The christening of Bourne's Sleeping Beauty, appropriately enough,
0:15:04 > 0:15:07is in a North London chapel.
0:15:08 > 0:15:12What I really want to do is have lots of material to play with.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16So we can then change it, look at it, and see what we can add into it.
0:15:16 > 0:15:18What works, what doesn't work.
0:15:18 > 0:15:20It's difficult not to make it twee.
0:15:20 > 0:15:24It can't be twee. It has to be more earthy than that.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27Otherwise, especially with the music, as well,
0:15:27 > 0:15:31the combination of the two won't give us the love story we want.
0:15:31 > 0:15:35If I can put it to you on day one, just get moving together...
0:15:35 > 0:15:38and let's just try and find something.
0:15:38 > 0:15:39I think that's the idea, really.
0:15:39 > 0:15:42At this, the earliest stage of creation,
0:15:42 > 0:15:45Matthew oversees the dancers improvising
0:15:45 > 0:15:49and developing movement at their own pace.
0:15:52 > 0:15:54He's working with three couples.
0:15:54 > 0:15:57All of whom will be dancing the leading roles
0:15:57 > 0:15:59of Carabosse, the wicked fairy,
0:15:59 > 0:16:03and Aurora, the Sleeping Beauty herself.
0:16:03 > 0:16:05Ben, you could end with your head
0:16:05 > 0:16:07on her back,
0:16:07 > 0:16:09before you do those things, maybe.
0:16:09 > 0:16:10Make contact.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13'It's the beginning of the process,
0:16:13 > 0:16:15'so I've been concentrating
0:16:15 > 0:16:17'on specific material for
0:16:17 > 0:16:19'the leading characters.'
0:16:19 > 0:16:22You can let yourself go a little more there.
0:16:22 > 0:16:26You could really go, and he has to catch you there.
0:16:26 > 0:16:28It's great to have this time -
0:16:28 > 0:16:31to have the time to do it ahead of time,
0:16:31 > 0:16:33without the full company around...
0:16:33 > 0:16:37is sort of golden time, in a way.
0:16:39 > 0:16:40Much better, yeah.
0:16:40 > 0:16:44The dancers explore small, gestural moves
0:16:44 > 0:16:46that will evolve slowly over the coming weeks.
0:16:46 > 0:16:49When I went in to look at you...
0:16:53 > 0:16:57Matthew uses everyday, natural movement in his work...
0:16:57 > 0:16:59not technical ballet steps,
0:16:59 > 0:17:01which makes a story more realistic
0:17:01 > 0:17:03and more accessible.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06We could go straight onto the knee.
0:17:06 > 0:17:08That last position, where you're face to face,
0:17:08 > 0:17:10it feels again you could be
0:17:10 > 0:17:14a little bit more falling, before he catches you.
0:17:14 > 0:17:17It's like the millionth touch that you break again.
0:17:17 > 0:17:19Associate director Etta Murfitt
0:17:19 > 0:17:20has been with the company
0:17:20 > 0:17:22for 21 years.
0:17:22 > 0:17:25We tend to look for dancers
0:17:25 > 0:17:28who aren't afraid of...
0:17:28 > 0:17:31acting on top of the movement we've given them.
0:17:31 > 0:17:33You'd be surprised,
0:17:33 > 0:17:35when you walk into an audition,
0:17:35 > 0:17:38you ask dancers to do movement, they can do it perfectly,
0:17:38 > 0:17:41but when you ask them to invest it with a little bit of character,
0:17:41 > 0:17:43they can't do that.
0:17:43 > 0:17:45There are some dancers who just aren't interested.
0:17:50 > 0:17:52It's like casting a play.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55Rather than, when you're working with a dance company,
0:17:55 > 0:17:58where all the dancers tend to look the same...
0:17:58 > 0:18:02each production we do, we have a big pool of dancers,
0:18:02 > 0:18:04and we choose the right dancers for the parts.
0:18:04 > 0:18:06So...
0:18:06 > 0:18:09it's not about how good they are, dance-wise,
0:18:09 > 0:18:12it's about how good they are performance-wise,
0:18:12 > 0:18:15and how they'll fit into the part they're playing.
0:18:17 > 0:18:21I think the best Bourne dancers are dancers who have
0:18:21 > 0:18:24all the advantage that dance training gives you,
0:18:24 > 0:18:29in terms of coordination, physical skill, timing, musicality.
0:18:29 > 0:18:32But who you don't immediately say
0:18:32 > 0:18:35when you see them on stage, "That is a dancer."
0:18:37 > 0:18:39The ideal person is somebody who
0:18:39 > 0:18:41can dance, they can act,
0:18:41 > 0:18:44their stage manners are intelligent.
0:18:44 > 0:18:46But they're not people who
0:18:46 > 0:18:48you can musically classify
0:18:48 > 0:18:52as a dancer, as opposed to an actor.
0:18:58 > 0:19:02Matthew records sections on his digital camera...
0:19:02 > 0:19:04as a moving sketchbook
0:19:04 > 0:19:06to help him select the dance phrases
0:19:06 > 0:19:09which he'll then develop.
0:19:09 > 0:19:11What these things are good for me for
0:19:11 > 0:19:14is to try and find a language for the characters.
0:19:14 > 0:19:16That may mean sometimes
0:19:16 > 0:19:19seeing something that I don't like, as well as something I do,
0:19:19 > 0:19:21and picking out the elements that feel right.
0:19:21 > 0:19:23And I don't really know till I see it.
0:19:25 > 0:19:28I'm nervous about it in some ways
0:19:28 > 0:19:30cos I want it to be good.
0:19:30 > 0:19:32It's a good thing to be nervous about.
0:19:32 > 0:19:36Not being nervous about, "Oh, it's a big, new production,
0:19:36 > 0:19:38"and what is everyone going to think?"
0:19:38 > 0:19:40I just want to make it as good as it can be.
0:19:40 > 0:19:43That's my main aim at the moment.
0:19:43 > 0:19:47I feel good about it. I wouldn't say "confident", I feel "good".
0:19:50 > 0:19:55I sense in your work that you love storytelling.
0:19:55 > 0:19:57Yes, I think I'm conscious
0:19:57 > 0:20:00of working in a medium which to many people
0:20:00 > 0:20:02is a little difficult.
0:20:02 > 0:20:03Or they think it is.
0:20:03 > 0:20:05The task I set myself, usually,
0:20:05 > 0:20:10is I imagine a person sitting there who knows nothing...
0:20:10 > 0:20:14and the curtain goes up and I have to start telling them a story.
0:20:16 > 0:20:18Whether they know this piece really well,
0:20:18 > 0:20:20and enjoy all the differences
0:20:20 > 0:20:22that I'm doing with it,
0:20:22 > 0:20:25or they've never seen it before, never seen a dance piece...
0:20:25 > 0:20:28I try and make it on that level as well,
0:20:28 > 0:20:31so it's very clear storytelling.
0:20:31 > 0:20:33MUSIC: "Ice Dance" by Danny Elfman
0:20:37 > 0:20:40Matthew is as much a director as he is a choreographer.
0:20:40 > 0:20:44He never pretends he's the greatest choreographer in the world.
0:20:44 > 0:20:46Telling stories, actually,
0:20:46 > 0:20:48I think intrigues him far more
0:20:48 > 0:20:50than the steps he employs.
0:20:52 > 0:20:54He will never take a story at face value.
0:20:54 > 0:20:56He will find a way of...
0:20:56 > 0:20:58intriguing you.
0:21:00 > 0:21:03It was wonderful that Play Without Words
0:21:03 > 0:21:05was one of his pieces,
0:21:05 > 0:21:07because that's what he does.
0:21:07 > 0:21:09He stages plays without words.
0:21:16 > 0:21:19The original story of Sleeping Beauty,
0:21:19 > 0:21:22especially if you go back, even pre-Grimms...
0:21:22 > 0:21:25is quite...frightening.
0:21:25 > 0:21:28Yes, there's a second plot
0:21:28 > 0:21:31that I'm not actually touching on... THEY LAUGH
0:21:31 > 0:21:34..you'll be pleased to hear. Once she gets the kiss and wakes up,
0:21:34 > 0:21:37she goes off and has this terrible life afterwards
0:21:37 > 0:21:39where her husband, the prince, goes off to war,
0:21:39 > 0:21:41and she has a mother-in-law from hell...
0:21:41 > 0:21:43who wants to eat her children.
0:21:43 > 0:21:46People are surprised this is part of the story, but it is.
0:21:46 > 0:21:48That's why no-one ever does it, hardly.
0:21:52 > 0:21:56There is a strong symbolic component to fairytales.
0:21:56 > 0:21:59The patent action is not what's actually going on underneath.
0:22:01 > 0:22:03I've always thought
0:22:03 > 0:22:05that the 18th-century fairytale
0:22:05 > 0:22:07was a contempt to contain
0:22:07 > 0:22:11these superstitious beliefs that one could be cursed,
0:22:11 > 0:22:13one could be raped in one's sleep...
0:22:13 > 0:22:15and turn it into something
0:22:15 > 0:22:17no longer threatening.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19What we're seeing in Sleeping Beauty
0:22:19 > 0:22:21is the transformation
0:22:21 > 0:22:24of quite deep fears about cursing
0:22:24 > 0:22:26into...
0:22:26 > 0:22:27Christmas entertainment.
0:22:29 > 0:22:31I think that's civilising.
0:22:34 > 0:22:36Once the workshop period ends,
0:22:36 > 0:22:39the production moves to an East London film studio...
0:22:39 > 0:22:42where Matthew starts to work with the whole cast.
0:22:42 > 0:22:45OK, so...
0:22:45 > 0:22:46tennis people...
0:22:46 > 0:22:49He uses the video clips made during the workshops
0:22:49 > 0:22:53to communicate his ideas to a larger group of dancers.
0:22:55 > 0:22:58I think the easiest way's to get it back closer to what it was.
0:22:58 > 0:23:03Maybe with a little view on, "Are we doing too many things?"
0:23:03 > 0:23:07It looks weird cos Pia's dancing with a rose in her hand.
0:23:07 > 0:23:09THEY LAUGH
0:23:09 > 0:23:12I think the important thing about it is...
0:23:12 > 0:23:14it looks athletic.
0:23:14 > 0:23:17If it's a move that doesn't look like it's a tennis move,
0:23:17 > 0:23:20it's a little odd for a while.
0:23:20 > 0:23:23It's more or less there, I think.
0:23:23 > 0:23:27Just need to look at it and see if there's one or two moments
0:23:27 > 0:23:29we need to refine a little bit.
0:23:34 > 0:23:37I've got the most complicated racquet choreography.
0:23:43 > 0:23:46Hannah is dancing the leading role of Aurora.
0:23:49 > 0:23:52It's the second time I've been part of a creation.
0:23:52 > 0:23:55I was in the creative process for Edward Scissorhands,
0:23:55 > 0:23:57so it was a similar process,
0:23:57 > 0:24:00but this is slightly more classic
0:24:00 > 0:24:01in its orientation.
0:24:04 > 0:24:08'We have quite a lot of material that we did in the workshops,
0:24:08 > 0:24:11'so four of us individually made up four phrases
0:24:11 > 0:24:13'to create a tennis quartet.'
0:24:13 > 0:24:15Then you go this way.
0:24:18 > 0:24:22It was really fun to come up with ideas, just strolling along
0:24:22 > 0:24:23in the park, playing tennis,
0:24:23 > 0:24:26and what you can do with a tennis racquet...
0:24:26 > 0:24:29and just being creative.
0:24:29 > 0:24:31I like the madness of it... MALE DANCER LAUGHS
0:24:31 > 0:24:34..and the more you do it, the more dangerous you can get with it,
0:24:34 > 0:24:36with the racquets and things.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39I absolutely love telling a story,
0:24:39 > 0:24:41and this seems to be a perfect combination
0:24:41 > 0:24:45of dancing and acting and storytelling through movement.
0:24:45 > 0:24:50It's a really rare thing to be able to do all that all at the same time.
0:24:52 > 0:24:54If you want to try it, I'll count you the four in,
0:24:54 > 0:24:56and then we're off.
0:24:56 > 0:25:00Then after four eights, this one starts, yeah?
0:25:00 > 0:25:04Be careful, though, with those racquets. Thanks.
0:25:04 > 0:25:08Two, three, four...
0:25:08 > 0:25:10and a one and a two
0:25:10 > 0:25:12and a three and a four,
0:25:12 > 0:25:14and a five and a six
0:25:14 > 0:25:16and a seven and a eight,
0:25:16 > 0:25:20and a one, two and a three and a four,
0:25:20 > 0:25:24and a five and a six and a seven and a eight,
0:25:24 > 0:25:28and a one and two and a three and four,
0:25:28 > 0:25:32and a five, six and a seven and a eight,
0:25:32 > 0:25:34and a one, then two,
0:25:34 > 0:25:36and a three and four,
0:25:36 > 0:25:40and a five and a six and seven and a eight...
0:25:40 > 0:25:43and...one. Good.
0:25:43 > 0:25:45Two and a three and four
0:25:45 > 0:25:47and a five and a six
0:25:47 > 0:25:49and a seven and a eight
0:25:49 > 0:25:51and a one...
0:25:51 > 0:25:53If you look at the company and the dancers,
0:25:53 > 0:25:56there's such a vary of training...
0:25:56 > 0:26:01there's a lot of people who have trained in musical theatre,
0:26:01 > 0:26:04and there's a few people who are classically trained.
0:26:05 > 0:26:08I think his work does require...
0:26:08 > 0:26:10kind of mediums of the two.
0:26:13 > 0:26:17One, two, three, four, five, six...
0:26:17 > 0:26:19I'm playing Tantrum Fairy,
0:26:19 > 0:26:21which is the fairy of temperament.
0:26:21 > 0:26:25And Lilac Fairy...or Count Lilac.
0:26:25 > 0:26:28And then I'm covering the part of Autumn-ness,
0:26:28 > 0:26:30which is as another fairy.
0:26:32 > 0:26:35The casting of male dancers in roles
0:26:35 > 0:26:36traditionally played by women
0:26:36 > 0:26:40is one of Bourne's favourite theatrical devices.
0:26:42 > 0:26:4530 years ago, there was a slight embarrassment about male dancers.
0:26:45 > 0:26:47Yes, Nijinsky. Yes, Nureyev.
0:26:47 > 0:26:51But they're still unexpected figures.
0:26:51 > 0:26:54Actually, your dance is populated by men...
0:26:54 > 0:26:58and in all kinds of different guises.
0:26:59 > 0:27:04I think the reason I like to create roles for men, specifically,
0:27:04 > 0:27:08is because it's something I can identify with more, I guess.
0:27:08 > 0:27:11I'm calling upon myself...
0:27:11 > 0:27:14I suppose, different from other choreographers
0:27:14 > 0:27:16where it's much more specifically about the movement.
0:27:16 > 0:27:20For me, it's about trying to get inside the characters and feel them myself,
0:27:20 > 0:27:23and characters that I can identify with,
0:27:23 > 0:27:28as I would if I was writing a play or directing a movie or something.
0:27:38 > 0:27:42# La-la-la-la-la
0:27:42 > 0:27:45# La-la-la-la-la-la-la
0:27:45 > 0:27:49# La-la-la-la-la
0:27:49 > 0:27:52# La-la-la-la-la-la-la. #
0:27:56 > 0:27:59I remember being so amazed going to see Dorian Gray, which is dark
0:27:59 > 0:28:02and much more overtly gay.
0:28:03 > 0:28:07He wasn't doing it for political reasons, that to him is just the nature of the story.
0:28:07 > 0:28:10He wanted to bring out the darker side of the Wilde story
0:28:10 > 0:28:13than you find in other treatments.
0:28:13 > 0:28:15CAMERA CLICKS
0:28:31 > 0:28:35'When we first did Swan Lake, we had people walking out and we had complaints.
0:28:35 > 0:28:37'You know, when the prince and the swan dance together,
0:28:37 > 0:28:39'we had quite a lot of men walking out.'
0:28:39 > 0:28:42Partly, I think, it wasn't what they expected.
0:28:42 > 0:28:45They expected the classical version, so there was that element as well.
0:28:45 > 0:28:48'But there are a lot of people who couldn't handle the male swans
0:28:48 > 0:28:50'and the men dancing together in that way.'
0:28:50 > 0:28:52MUSIC CONTINUES
0:29:04 > 0:29:08The height of the physical relationship is the swan
0:29:08 > 0:29:10wrapping his wings around the prince.
0:29:10 > 0:29:15I mean, it doesn't really go further than that. It's very affectionate, very loving, really.
0:29:19 > 0:29:22'I wasn't ready for him to do Swan Lake,
0:29:22 > 0:29:24'and it was amazing that he could bring that off.'
0:29:24 > 0:29:27But with Sleeping Beauty, you are tackling a work of...
0:29:27 > 0:29:30It's boring to say classical perfection, but it is.
0:29:30 > 0:29:36It's the most detailed dance score of the 19th century
0:29:36 > 0:29:41and one that's most complex and lavish in its idea of dance theatre.
0:29:42 > 0:29:44'How is Matthew going to choreograph that?
0:29:44 > 0:29:47'You can you hear pointe work on that music,
0:29:47 > 0:29:50'so I'm curious as to what the hell he's going to do with that.'
0:29:50 > 0:29:52One, two, three, three, two, three.
0:29:52 > 0:29:54Three, two, three, four, two, three...
0:29:54 > 0:29:56So what are you looking for here?
0:29:56 > 0:29:58Well, this is Act II.
0:29:58 > 0:30:01- The garden scene? - The garden scene, exactly.
0:30:01 > 0:30:04We're just finishing off the waltz, the big waltz.
0:30:04 > 0:30:06Erm, basically, what we've done,
0:30:06 > 0:30:11we've blocked out a lot of movement, which takes a while,
0:30:11 > 0:30:15and then just sort of built the scenes in and around it.
0:30:15 > 0:30:20The other great confusion that goes on is they're all doing more than
0:30:20 > 0:30:23one part, you know, so there's that to deal with as well at the moment.
0:30:23 > 0:30:25Yeah, a lot of learning.
0:30:25 > 0:30:28One, two, three, two, two, three...
0:30:28 > 0:30:31I mean, for me, this is the most frustrating...
0:30:31 > 0:30:33I don't have much patience.
0:30:33 > 0:30:37It doesn't come across to them that I don't have much patience,
0:30:37 > 0:30:39I don't think, but I just want to get it done.
0:30:39 > 0:30:42I want it to be finished so I can work on it.
0:30:42 > 0:30:46You want to get through the plotting of it, the creation,
0:30:46 > 0:30:50so you can then start to refine it and do the things you want to do?
0:30:50 > 0:30:51Yeah. And it's time-consuming.
0:30:51 > 0:30:56This bit we're doing now, for example, is 15 seconds long,
0:30:56 > 0:30:59and it'll take about probably 45 minutes for them to learn it.
0:31:01 > 0:31:03It's a crazy amount of time it can take, you know,
0:31:03 > 0:31:06but it's one of the scenes where there's a lot of people on stage
0:31:06 > 0:31:09with different stories and quite a lot of dancing as well.
0:31:09 > 0:31:10We have to keep the stories going.
0:31:10 > 0:31:13That's what you always do, isn't it? Always looking for the story.
0:31:13 > 0:31:17Yeah. Always. You know, we do have to do the dancing.
0:31:17 > 0:31:20THEY LAUGH
0:31:20 > 0:31:22Which we enjoy as well.
0:31:22 > 0:31:25BACKGROUND MUSIC REACHES CRESCENDO
0:31:25 > 0:31:30So they've immersed themselves in these different periods
0:31:30 > 0:31:34- that it has to go through?- Yeah. You'll see we have books over here.
0:31:34 > 0:31:39We've got a library of things, so we've got our Edwardian stuff.
0:31:39 > 0:31:44It's incredible for this, because this idea that you can absorb
0:31:44 > 0:31:48history and trends and that all these dancers immerse themselves
0:31:48 > 0:31:51in this library here and sort of get to understand
0:31:51 > 0:31:55so much more about these periods and the way they connect, so that
0:31:55 > 0:31:59you get this sort of range of experience and periods and eras.
0:32:01 > 0:32:02HE LAUGHS
0:32:02 > 0:32:06You sort of do as much research as you can, and I almost try and
0:32:06 > 0:32:11forget it and start again with what this is that we're trying to do.
0:32:11 > 0:32:15'So, with the fairies, I try to approach it as something new.'
0:32:17 > 0:32:20The research process starts from day one,
0:32:20 > 0:32:23as soon as you've information of what Matthew's ideas are.
0:32:23 > 0:32:29But also, just general ideas that you can go off and explore yourself.
0:32:29 > 0:32:32A bit of TV, just walking along the street, thinking,
0:32:32 > 0:32:35"That's a really good idea for me to bring that into the character."
0:32:35 > 0:32:37MUSIC REACHES CRESCENDO
0:32:37 > 0:32:40Very good timing.
0:32:40 > 0:32:45It's interesting that all your work, more than anyone else, you always...
0:32:45 > 0:32:50The sense of character and who these people are is always
0:32:50 > 0:32:55at the bottom of everything, which, normally, in modern dance,
0:32:55 > 0:32:59that's not what people look for, and you can't avoid it in your work.
0:32:59 > 0:33:03Sometimes not even talked about all, not even touched upon, I think.
0:33:03 > 0:33:05And that suggests when you're casting,
0:33:05 > 0:33:09you're looking for something different from other companies, aren't you?
0:33:09 > 0:33:12I think so, and I think a lot of the people I have worked with
0:33:12 > 0:33:14over the years wouldn't have got into other companies.
0:33:14 > 0:33:18And they've found their home here, because it sort of suits them,
0:33:18 > 0:33:20you know, and what they can offer.
0:33:20 > 0:33:23We try not to have a body image.
0:33:23 > 0:33:25Cos you like people of different shapes and sizes?
0:33:25 > 0:33:28I do, yeah. I like it. Within reason, obviously.
0:33:28 > 0:33:30HE LAUGHS
0:33:30 > 0:33:32But, yeah.
0:33:32 > 0:33:36When we come out on six, it's not a hold this time. We go...
0:33:36 > 0:33:39Matthew Bourne isn't the only choreographer to have taken
0:33:39 > 0:33:42a radical approach to Sleeping Beauty.
0:33:49 > 0:33:53In 1985, the avant-garde Swedish dance-maker, Mats Ek,
0:33:53 > 0:33:57created a drug-crazed Aurora in which, rather than
0:33:57 > 0:34:03pricking her finger on a spindle, she stabs herself with a syringe.
0:34:06 > 0:34:10It's not pitched to the same audience, but Bourne's desire always
0:34:10 > 0:34:15to push the boundaries is evident in his brief to designer Lez Brotherston.
0:34:15 > 0:34:20A one and a two and a three and a four, and five, six...
0:34:20 > 0:34:23'The first thing I said to Lez was I wanted the design, the set,
0:34:23 > 0:34:25'to have some kind of movement in it.
0:34:25 > 0:34:29'Not just the movement of dancers, but movement within the set.'
0:34:29 > 0:34:31OK, get off, get off.
0:34:31 > 0:34:32Because I felt...
0:34:32 > 0:34:37I wanted to try and tell a story in a very fluid, journeying kind of way.
0:34:37 > 0:34:39Do you want to have a go with music?
0:34:39 > 0:34:43'And I knew we were going to have to travel across periods of time in the story,
0:34:43 > 0:34:46'so a fluid staging seemed really necessary.'
0:34:46 > 0:34:49Five, six and a seven
0:34:49 > 0:34:53and a eight and a one and a two
0:34:53 > 0:34:59and a three and a four, and back, six and seven...
0:34:59 > 0:35:02'One of the very, very first things Matt wanted to do with Beauty
0:35:02 > 0:35:04'was to move the dancers mechanically.'
0:35:04 > 0:35:08And a four. Travelling on this one. Quite fast.
0:35:08 > 0:35:12We'd done it before in Dorian Gray, we needed to revolve,
0:35:12 > 0:35:16and it's not very usual to use it in big ballets.
0:35:16 > 0:35:18Oh, it's quite hard, isn't it?
0:35:18 > 0:35:20But this time, the production was going to be so big
0:35:20 > 0:35:24that actually laying a revolve on the kind of touring schedule
0:35:24 > 0:35:26that we have, which is getting in on Monday,
0:35:26 > 0:35:29open on Tuesday, kind of puts the stage out of action for a very
0:35:29 > 0:35:32long period of time, so we wouldn't have time to build the set.
0:35:32 > 0:35:34Sideways is quite nice that Katie's doing there.
0:35:34 > 0:35:39So I kind of suggested that travelators would be better than a revolve,
0:35:39 > 0:35:42because we can put them in a part of the stage towards the back
0:35:42 > 0:35:45where people could be working on that while the rest of crew build the set downstage,
0:35:45 > 0:35:47so it wouldn't affect things so much.
0:35:47 > 0:35:51Erm, and then we talked about one travelator or two travelators,
0:35:51 > 0:35:54and Matt had reference of some films of people dancing on travelators.
0:35:59 > 0:36:03I'd seen this used very well in a film...
0:36:03 > 0:36:06As I always go back to, Fred Astaire movies.
0:36:08 > 0:36:12But this is a less well-known number called This Heart Of Mine from Ziegfeld Follies,
0:36:12 > 0:36:15and there's a really beautiful use of travelators in it where they have
0:36:15 > 0:36:18travelators going different directions.
0:36:18 > 0:36:22And it seems very good with a story that has fairies
0:36:22 > 0:36:27and mythical characters and creatures in it, that they could glide.
0:36:27 > 0:36:32And a one and a two and a three and a four,
0:36:32 > 0:36:37and five, six, seven, eight,
0:36:37 > 0:36:42and a one and a two and a three and a four.
0:36:42 > 0:36:47And a one and a two and a three and a four
0:36:47 > 0:36:51and a five and a six...seven.
0:36:51 > 0:36:54No, sorry, two and a three. HE LAUGHS
0:36:54 > 0:36:55Counting wrong!
0:36:55 > 0:36:57And a one and a two...
0:36:57 > 0:37:00'You ask him about the movie sources, and he'll say,
0:37:00 > 0:37:02'"Oh, this is the Hitchcock it's based on."'
0:37:02 > 0:37:05I absolutely remember interviewing him about Play Without Words,
0:37:05 > 0:37:09and he can list, I think, at least 25 films that were part
0:37:09 > 0:37:13of the individual characterisations for each person in Play Without Words.
0:37:15 > 0:37:19'In Cinderella, Cinderella dances with the tailor's dummy.
0:37:22 > 0:37:25'Which is also a Fred Astaire image.'
0:37:35 > 0:37:37So we're going to go from the top.
0:37:37 > 0:37:40Matthew is always challenging himself to bring
0:37:40 > 0:37:43the characters to life in intriguing ways.
0:37:43 > 0:37:46Even the baby Aurora, traditionally a stuffed doll,
0:37:46 > 0:37:50has been animated and given a personality.
0:37:50 > 0:37:52Three, four, five, six, one...
0:37:53 > 0:37:57The baby Aurora was an idea that seemed really important to me,
0:37:57 > 0:38:02and the reason for that was, really, Aurora is the main character
0:38:02 > 0:38:06in the piece, and the first act, or the Prologue as it's called
0:38:06 > 0:38:10in the classical ballet, is about 25 minutes long.
0:38:10 > 0:38:14And you haven't met her yet. She's just a bundle in a cot, you know?
0:38:14 > 0:38:16I thought, "We've got to give her a personality."
0:38:16 > 0:38:19Two, strolling on... No.
0:38:19 > 0:38:21So the idea for this baby puppet came up,
0:38:21 > 0:38:25and I wanted her to be an unruly child who cried a lot,
0:38:25 > 0:38:27and she ran away, and she climbed up things,
0:38:27 > 0:38:31and so you got personality for her. She was a little wild child.
0:38:35 > 0:38:37'In developing the puppet,
0:38:37 > 0:38:39'we had a talk about what he actually wanted it to do.
0:38:39 > 0:38:41'He had to say in advance.'
0:38:41 > 0:38:42Reaching up...
0:38:44 > 0:38:47And it transpired that actually, we needed more than one puppet.
0:38:47 > 0:38:49I think we've got five puppets now.
0:38:49 > 0:38:51There's one that does crawling, one that does crying,
0:38:51 > 0:38:53with a head that spins round so it's not crying.
0:38:53 > 0:38:56There's a bundle baby and the first baby we see.
0:38:56 > 0:38:58So there's lots of different babies for different moments.
0:38:58 > 0:39:00'And it sort of grew.
0:39:00 > 0:39:03'As we found out what the puppet could do,
0:39:03 > 0:39:05'then it became more fun to play with the puppet
0:39:05 > 0:39:07'and we made a whole story for it in the first act.'
0:39:07 > 0:39:10The baby is coming on a bit soon.
0:39:10 > 0:39:12One and a two and a three and a four and a five and a six
0:39:12 > 0:39:14and a seven and eight.
0:39:14 > 0:39:17It's surprising that you need... To operate a baby crawling,
0:39:17 > 0:39:21you need three big men all in black with sticks and things
0:39:21 > 0:39:27just to make each joint and the legs and arms and body and the head all move correctly.
0:39:27 > 0:39:31Now, you have to work very close to each other.
0:39:31 > 0:39:33What dancers are very good at is body language.
0:39:33 > 0:39:35They have to tell the story through their bodies,
0:39:35 > 0:39:38so to put that into an inanimate object is something
0:39:38 > 0:39:40they are very good at understanding, I think.
0:39:43 > 0:39:48Yeah, OK, thanks. OK. We're nowhere near, really, for that one?
0:39:48 > 0:39:52It's turned out to be a very popular aspect of the production already.
0:39:52 > 0:39:56And it's very realistic-looking, but we don't give her a bow,
0:39:56 > 0:40:00because we fear she'd get the most applause!
0:40:02 > 0:40:05After six weeks at the film studios,
0:40:05 > 0:40:10the production moves into another gear and relocates to the Theatre Royal in Plymouth.
0:40:13 > 0:40:17Over a week, a black box is slowly transformed
0:40:17 > 0:40:20into Lez Brotherston's set.
0:40:20 > 0:40:22Need a bit more, please, Al!
0:40:22 > 0:40:26The dancers arrive and start to get the feel of the space
0:40:26 > 0:40:29and try out their costumes, hair and make-up.
0:40:35 > 0:40:39Finishing up with the run-throughs in rehearsal space,
0:40:39 > 0:40:44you feel you've achieved something and you've got your studio version of the show.
0:40:45 > 0:40:50Getting to Plymouth, you suddenly take several steps backwards.
0:40:50 > 0:40:54You're in the theatre, I'm distanced from everyone a bit,
0:40:54 > 0:40:58I'm sitting in the stalls with a mic, and they maybe don't see me all day.
0:40:58 > 0:41:01There's just a voice over the mic.
0:41:01 > 0:41:03Can we look at the Aurora route through this?
0:41:03 > 0:41:05So she goes...
0:41:05 > 0:41:09through her friends over here.
0:41:09 > 0:41:10Yeah.
0:41:10 > 0:41:13Because we are revealing the whole stage picture now,
0:41:13 > 0:41:15I think we need more people on.
0:41:15 > 0:41:20There are always things that need adjustment, in costumes, wigs.
0:41:20 > 0:41:23People all concerned about quick changes and how
0:41:23 > 0:41:28they get around the wings which weren't really there in rehearsal.
0:41:28 > 0:41:29So you never really know,
0:41:29 > 0:41:33and that is one of the exciting things about technical rehearsals.
0:41:33 > 0:41:35Here we go.
0:41:35 > 0:41:38Seven, two, three, eight, two, three...
0:41:38 > 0:41:41For a designer, it is quite intimidating
0:41:41 > 0:41:43because it's the first time the company and Matt
0:41:43 > 0:41:46and the producers has seen everything together. It is
0:41:46 > 0:41:52quite hard work in that you have got very little time to put...
0:41:52 > 0:41:54You have one act for two sessions so that's for six hours.
0:41:54 > 0:41:58That's as much as I'm going to have to look at every costume, every
0:41:58 > 0:42:00wig, every bit of make-up, make the notes, decide what
0:42:00 > 0:42:04the changes have to be, see what is working, see what is not working.
0:42:08 > 0:42:11So it is quite an intense period because you just don't know...
0:42:11 > 0:42:13It's how you find out whether it's going to work or not.
0:42:16 > 0:42:19The production has 160 costumes in all.
0:42:19 > 0:42:22As well as addressing Les Brotherston's concerns,
0:42:22 > 0:42:26the dancers now have to get used to rehearsing in period clothes.
0:42:26 > 0:42:28I feel amazing.
0:42:28 > 0:42:33It feels good. The greatest thing about the costumes is
0:42:33 > 0:42:36we usually stick to the real costume itself.
0:42:36 > 0:42:39Like my shoes, they are not actual dance shoes from anywhere.
0:42:39 > 0:42:44We are using proper shoes. So you get to feel it as well which is nice.
0:42:44 > 0:42:47Now we've got the costume on, I've got the moustache on
0:42:47 > 0:42:51and the full clobber, so you start to feel it a bit more on stage.
0:42:52 > 0:42:55I definitely feel more in the period,
0:42:55 > 0:42:58especially with putting a wig on.
0:42:58 > 0:43:01Wearing a corset to dance in solidly for
0:43:01 > 0:43:04an hour and a half is quite difficult.
0:43:04 > 0:43:08At the moment I have let it out a bit, so I have more room to breathe!
0:43:08 > 0:43:12Hopefully it's something I'll get used to.
0:43:15 > 0:43:17Because we are designing for characters,
0:43:17 > 0:43:20you find the costume that is right for the King or the Queen
0:43:20 > 0:43:22and then you just make it possible to dance in.
0:43:22 > 0:43:25There's only about three or four tricks that you
0:43:25 > 0:43:28do in terms of cutting the three-part sleeve or just
0:43:28 > 0:43:32different ways of putting panels in that make it friendlier to move in.
0:43:32 > 0:43:34There is no great mystery, really.
0:43:34 > 0:43:36What is different to what we do, I suppose, is it is so much more
0:43:36 > 0:43:38character-based and narrative-based
0:43:38 > 0:43:40and less about just a way of dancing.
0:43:44 > 0:43:47It is an extraordinary mix of styles in this piece.
0:43:47 > 0:43:51But also, we haven't got the enormous
0:43:51 > 0:43:53budgets of a Royal Opera House or something like that.
0:43:53 > 0:43:55The company is very small, actually.
0:43:55 > 0:43:57People think there is going to be twice the amount
0:43:57 > 0:43:59of people on stage at the end of the show.
0:43:59 > 0:44:03There's only 17 people actually in the production at any given
0:44:03 > 0:44:07performance but they are just constantly changing.
0:44:09 > 0:44:13The choreography backstage is almost as complex as the performance
0:44:13 > 0:44:15on stage.
0:44:15 > 0:44:18There may be only 17 dancers but they have to juggle more
0:44:18 > 0:44:21than 50 wigs over the course of the evening.
0:44:21 > 0:44:25They are all handmade by Darren Ware and his small team of makers.
0:44:25 > 0:44:27We've got more wigs in this than anything else,
0:44:27 > 0:44:30because all the boys have got them and we've had to buy
0:44:30 > 0:44:33bigger wig blocks because normally it is just the girls that have wigs.
0:44:33 > 0:44:35They have smaller heads.
0:44:35 > 0:44:39So we have had a huge order to go through for more wig blocks.
0:44:39 > 0:44:42It's always a slightly heart-stopping moment because you
0:44:42 > 0:44:45buy this very expensive long European hair to make the wig with.
0:44:45 > 0:44:48How is it going to behave when she is whishing around
0:44:48 > 0:44:49and swishing her hair?
0:44:49 > 0:44:52Is it all going to back up and look like a big bird's nest?
0:44:52 > 0:44:54It is about how we dress it so that it's really natural
0:44:54 > 0:44:56and what products we use in it so that it moves.
0:44:56 > 0:44:58With every show I do,
0:44:58 > 0:45:01if we have done a good job they think we have done nothing at all.
0:45:04 > 0:45:06I have been doing it too long that I don't get that
0:45:06 > 0:45:09excited about many things.
0:45:09 > 0:45:11This one, you just kind of think, this is extraordinary.
0:45:11 > 0:45:15It's got overtones of True Blood and Twilight and that whole
0:45:15 > 0:45:18kind of vampire thing that is going on, which is so current.
0:45:18 > 0:45:23For that scene in amongst the trees, very exciting.
0:45:28 > 0:45:32With multiple dancers playing each role, Hannah and Dominic
0:45:32 > 0:45:35pick up tips by watching their counterparts rehearsing onstage.
0:45:35 > 0:45:38That's better.
0:45:43 > 0:45:44Really hard.
0:45:44 > 0:45:47Our immediate thing is to get up first but what
0:45:47 > 0:45:51we need to do is get you up and then I step over you because otherwise...
0:45:51 > 0:45:53- Needs to be one then the other.- Yes.
0:45:53 > 0:45:55It has to be you.
0:45:55 > 0:45:59What I did then was get you up as I was bringing my leg around.
0:46:01 > 0:46:07Lighting designer, Paule Constable, is Matthew's long-time collaborator
0:46:07 > 0:46:10and works with him from the centre of the stalls.
0:46:10 > 0:46:16So music finishes, blind is in as quick as possible and then,
0:46:16 > 0:46:20bring up interval, beat, 100 years,
0:46:20 > 0:46:24beat, house lights, Sleeping Beauty.
0:46:24 > 0:46:27Paule has one of the toughest jobs on the production.
0:46:27 > 0:46:31She only sees her work evolving during the stage rehearsals.
0:46:31 > 0:46:35Could we do the lift again, guys, just so that we can focus this light?
0:46:35 > 0:46:40I think there is a convention as to how dance pieces tend to be lit.
0:46:40 > 0:46:42If I am completely honest,
0:46:42 > 0:46:47that convention I don't think is necessarily healthy.
0:46:47 > 0:46:50What's tricky about lighting Matt's work, which I think is
0:46:50 > 0:46:54different to most dance, is that you are not only lighting the form
0:46:54 > 0:46:59in space, you are also lighting a play at the pace of dance.
0:46:59 > 0:47:00That looks pretty good.
0:47:00 > 0:47:05So the only way the audience would catch hold of those narratives
0:47:05 > 0:47:08is if they can see the dancers as if they were speaking text.
0:47:13 > 0:47:18Paule brings something that is again very unusual in the dance world,
0:47:18 > 0:47:21it is not lit in the way that most dance is lit,
0:47:21 > 0:47:26which tends to be very bright and very frontal and very sort of zingy.
0:47:26 > 0:47:31She is not a great fan of follow spots,
0:47:31 > 0:47:34which obviously in classical ballet are used very much.
0:47:34 > 0:47:39She is much more interested in, as I am, in creating a world
0:47:39 > 0:47:40and an atmosphere.
0:47:47 > 0:47:49In ballet performance,
0:47:49 > 0:47:52you very rarely hear anything other then the orchestra.
0:47:52 > 0:47:58But for narrative emphasis, the sound designer adds extra layers.
0:47:58 > 0:48:00Well, you can't make the music any better.
0:48:00 > 0:48:04It does what it does, it does it obviously very well and beautifully.
0:48:04 > 0:48:08But what I can do is help the dramatic storytelling.
0:48:08 > 0:48:12That you can influence by using sound effects in this specific way.
0:48:14 > 0:48:18And as far as I am concerned, I treat it just like I would a play.
0:48:18 > 0:48:21There is a scene set in a garden, a scene set during the night.
0:48:24 > 0:48:28And therefore I will add sound effects which help
0:48:28 > 0:48:31the audience understand that it is hot or that it is cold.
0:48:31 > 0:48:34So it is simply applying theatrical techniques to it.
0:48:36 > 0:48:41Luckily we have a week in which to get to a run through where
0:48:41 > 0:48:47we can see it for the first time as a piece of theatre.
0:48:47 > 0:48:49It starts to reveal itself.
0:48:50 > 0:48:54Sometimes things work just like that, immediately.
0:48:54 > 0:48:56You think, wow, that looks beautiful.
0:48:56 > 0:49:01And other times it's like, this is not quite the way I imagined it.
0:49:03 > 0:49:07For many of the people who come to watch and enjoy your work,
0:49:07 > 0:49:12there are people who wouldn't necessarily go to classical dance
0:49:12 > 0:49:14which they might find rather intimidating.
0:49:14 > 0:49:19You somehow found an audience and invited an audience in,
0:49:19 > 0:49:21you can have fun, come and enjoy this.
0:49:21 > 0:49:24And going back in time to music and dance
0:49:24 > 0:49:28and forms that are a part of our history and our DNA.
0:49:28 > 0:49:31Yes, it is a good point because the history of dance has become
0:49:31 > 0:49:36a very important element in what I do as a choreographer.
0:49:36 > 0:49:39I love dipping into different eras of dance,
0:49:39 > 0:49:43different styles of dance which is why I'm very difficult to
0:49:43 > 0:49:47pinpoint as a particular style of choreography, I think.
0:49:49 > 0:49:52But the classical ballets that I have reinterpreted,
0:49:52 > 0:49:55I'm very conscious of the original when I make those pieces.
0:49:58 > 0:50:02Although I am known, I suppose, for sort of reinventing them
0:50:02 > 0:50:05in my own way, I am very reverential in other ways about them.
0:50:05 > 0:50:09I am very sort of careful to be conscious of where
0:50:09 > 0:50:11they have come from.
0:50:13 > 0:50:17I kind of want to please the people who know them really well.
0:50:17 > 0:50:19As well as invite this new audience in,
0:50:19 > 0:50:23I want people to get the fact that I know where it is coming from.
0:50:29 > 0:50:33I think what he saw in the Tchaikovsky scores,
0:50:33 > 0:50:38he saw the cinematic quality of the music.
0:50:40 > 0:50:43He had seen enough musicals to understand
0:50:43 > 0:50:46the potential of these pieces as theatre pieces
0:50:46 > 0:50:49rather than just as ballets.
0:50:49 > 0:50:53And he said to me, the trouble is the public have got
0:50:53 > 0:50:56it into their minds that modern dance is boring.
0:50:57 > 0:50:59That needs a lot of work.
0:50:59 > 0:51:03And, to a great extent, he is right.
0:51:06 > 0:51:10In any dance city, there is going to be an animosity between
0:51:10 > 0:51:12ballet and modern.
0:51:12 > 0:51:15And normally the ballet people can be the snobs about it.
0:51:15 > 0:51:19But Matthew Bourne has made a form of modern dance
0:51:19 > 0:51:21that is actually more popular than ballet.
0:51:23 > 0:51:27So he can make a show that runs for weeks unbroken.
0:51:33 > 0:51:36You could say he had a limited palette
0:51:36 > 0:51:40if what he was doing was simply making classical ballets.
0:51:40 > 0:51:45But there is more to a theatrical work than just the steps.
0:51:45 > 0:51:48The thing that Matthew is very, very good at,
0:51:48 > 0:51:51almost the best at, is telling a story.
0:51:51 > 0:51:54And sometimes,
0:51:54 > 0:51:58the best way of telling a story is not to tell it through footwork.
0:52:02 > 0:52:05I think he has been hugely successful
0:52:05 > 0:52:08because he wants to put on popular work.
0:52:08 > 0:52:13He is not afraid to sort of incur the wrath of the dance
0:52:13 > 0:52:18establishment by doing something that might upset them.
0:52:18 > 0:52:23He does it because, A - he believes in it, and B - he wants to entertain
0:52:23 > 0:52:28and bring people who have never been to the ballet to see his work.
0:52:40 > 0:52:45The big hurdle, I guess, to overcome is coming to London with the piece.
0:52:45 > 0:52:48So I am quite nervous about the London opening.
0:52:48 > 0:52:51And there will always be some critics,
0:52:51 > 0:52:56I guess, particularly with a piece like this, Sleeping Beauty,
0:52:56 > 0:53:01which is a sort of hallowed classical piece, who are always going to
0:53:01 > 0:53:04take exception to some of the things I have done with it.
0:53:08 > 0:53:11But the way I see it, for 98% of the audience,
0:53:11 > 0:53:13they couldn't care less about that.
0:53:13 > 0:53:18They just want to enjoy the story and be taken somewhere
0:53:18 > 0:53:21exciting theatrically and that is what we're all about.
0:53:23 > 0:53:25I am definitely feeling nervous.
0:53:25 > 0:53:30At the moment we have got a show which is in really good shape.
0:53:30 > 0:53:33But as ever, it is a living and breathing thing
0:53:33 > 0:53:36and it will change day to day, week to week,
0:53:36 > 0:53:40but I don't think there will ever be a point where I am not nervous.
0:53:42 > 0:53:44- You look quite tired. - Yes, I am tired.
0:53:44 > 0:53:48You know, you're watching every show, you're rehearsing every day,
0:53:48 > 0:53:51you don't sleep very well, you worry a lot.
0:53:51 > 0:53:54And the company, do they feel kind of confident at this point?
0:53:54 > 0:53:58It's always an added buzz when you come to London,
0:53:58 > 0:54:01they feel they have been working towards it so there is
0:54:01 > 0:54:04a certain amount of nerves coming into Sadler's Wells.
0:54:04 > 0:54:09But it adds to the excitement of the show and being here.
0:54:22 > 0:54:24Pure genius.
0:54:24 > 0:54:28I mean, the way he reinvents classics is unique,
0:54:28 > 0:54:31nobody can do it as well as Matthew.
0:54:31 > 0:54:34I have got goose pimples, it was brilliant.
0:54:34 > 0:54:37He has brought it up to date, he has made it absolutely now
0:54:37 > 0:54:40and yet it will not date, this will go on for ever.
0:54:40 > 0:54:43Considering I have done four different productions,
0:54:43 > 0:54:44this is a cool one.
0:54:44 > 0:54:51I love the baby, especially, and I love the dark side, very much.
0:54:51 > 0:54:52I think... Ah!