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Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake
Reviewed by Mary Cargill
(November 19, 1998)It can come as a surprise to almost no one that Matthew Bourne's production is a rethought, updated, and phenomenally popular version of Swan Lake. I knew about the male swans, the leather-clad black swan, and the digs at the Royal Family. What did surprise me, considering the drama awards it has won, is how poorly it hold up as a story, especially when compared with its fairy tale original.
The prince in the beginning is a caricature of a doofus and a cartoon can hardly be considered a tragic figure. The Queen Mother has all the depth of a burlesque fantasy, fondling anything in pants. There is no promise of faithfulness in the white act, so no real conflict in the Prince's actions in the ballroom scene. And the ballroom scene is confused--the tutor/von Rothbart figure (who seems to have bribed a floozy to pursue the Prince through the first act), seems to be in cahoots with the black swan, who prances around with all the women, including an especially hot and heavy pas de deux with the Queen. What his relation to the White Swan is, and why the Prince should care if he (like every other man around) gropes the Queen Mother, is not clear.
The Black Swan then takes out a gun and shoots the floozy, to the apparent glee of the tutor. The prince then seems to have a breakdown, and his beloved White Swan comes to see him. But since there has been no oath sworn, the piercing sweetness of Tchaikovsky's forgiveness motif seems out of place. Then more white swans turn up and peck the Prince and his White Swan to death--again completely without motivation. I suppose the choreographer could be saying that society is corrupt, but nature is cruel. However the characters are so flat it is hard to care.
Choreographically it was a mixture. Most of the group dances looked like really bad TV variety show variations, with a lot of groping and fondling. The ballet take-off was just painful. To make fun of ballet to the music of the Petipa pas de trois, one needs much more skill than was shown here. Chasing ballerinas with a butterfly net was funny once--when Jerome Robbins was young. Balanchine's parody of Swan Lake in Western Symphony is infinitely more witty and skillful.
But the lakeside scene is completely different. The White Swan I saw, Will Kemp, was, according to a friend who also saw Adam Cooper, much more sensuous and mysterious than Cooper. The choreography for the swans was magnificent, wild and free, and utterly inhuman. Under its spell, even the hapless prince became real, and his joy and finding a bit of freedom was unbelievably touching. Now, if only Matthew Bourne would reduce his Swan Lake to the white act, he would have a piece to match the hype.