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