Sleeping Beauty - Mathew Bourne

Matthew Bourne’s haunting new scenario is a gothic tale for all ages; the traditional tale of good vs. evil and rebirth is turned upside-down, creating a supernatural love story that even the passage of time itself cannot hinder.

Perrault’s timeless fairy tale, about a young girl cursed to sleep for one hundred years, was turned into a legendary ballet by Tchaikovsky and choreographer, Marius Petipa, in 1890. Bourne takes this date as his starting point, setting the Christening of Aurora, the story’s heroine, in the year of the ballet’s first performance; the height of the Fin-de-Siecle period when fairies, vampires and decadent opulence fed the gothic imagination. As Aurora grows into a young woman, we move forwards in time to the more rigid, uptight Edwardian era; a mythical golden age of long Summer afternoons, croquet on the lawn and new dance crazes. Years later, awakening from her century long slumber, Aurora finds herself in the modern day; a world more mysterious than any Fairy story!

Matthew Bourne’s SLEEPING BEAUTY premiered in 2012, and was the fastest selling production in the company’s history. SLEEPING BEAUTY was created for New Adventures 25th birthday celebrations and completed Matthew Bourne’s trio of re-imagined Tchaikovsky ballet masterworks that started in 1992 with Nutcracker! and, most famously, in 1995, with the international hit Swan Lake. This dazzling production has won the hearts of thousands and smashed box office records across the UK and at Sadler’s Wells. Its USA premiere in 2013 prompted Joan Acolella of The New Yorker to hail Bourne as “the most popular choreographer of theatrical dance in the Western world” and The New York Times said: “This is Bourne at his best – a masterful storyteller.” The production also won three Los Angeles Drama Critic Awards and the Ovation Award for “Best Production”.

Awards
Los Angeles Drama Critics Awards 2014:
Winner Of Music Direction - Matthew Bourne
Winner Of Solo Performance - Paule Constable
Winner Of Solo Performance - Lez Brotherston
Ovation Awards 2014: Winner Of Best Production
The Stage Awards 2017: Winner of The Stage International Award

Reviews
"Wonderful. Bourne’s clever gothic re-write. Beguiling and true" The Guardian
"Strikingly fresh....witty, inventive and touching" Mail On Sunday
"Bourne’s exuberant re-imagining. An action packed evening greeted with cheers" The Times
"An eye-popping gothic delight" Observer
"Tongue in cheek humour, contemporary references and accessible theatrical dance" Time Out
"Extraordinary. Fantastic. Dazzling. Masterful." Sunday Express
"Freshness, excitement and brilliant theatrical invention" La Times
"This is one of the funniest, funkiest, most irresistibly infectious ballets I have ever had the delight of sitting through" Daily Mail