Director and choreographer Matthew Bourne's "Swan Lake" is his third modern interpretation of a classical ballet for "Adventures in Motion Pictures", one of the UKs most popular dance companies. This made for TV production features the complete London West End Show that toured around the world. Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" is set in the present day and features a supporting cast of male swans. The unhappy and unloved Prince Siegfried (Scott Ambler) is mocked, betrayed and rejected by everyone around him. When he decides to commit suicide by throwing himself in a lake at a city park, a beautiful swan (Adam Cooper) emerges from the water. The Prince and the swan become close friends, but their friendship is destined to end in tragedy.
Act 1 of the ballet opens in the Prince's bedroom as he has a nightmare of the sexy swan above his bed. The next few scenes are of the Prince's life: the parties, his girlfriend, and a visit to a ballet. After the ballet the Prince and his girlfriend fight and he follows her to a Soho club. At the club he meets and goes home with a sailor--our first indication that this is no ordinary ballet. In Act 2 the Prince lands on a park bench, drunk, sad, and alone. He spies some swans and proceeds to enter their lives in a spectacular dance sequence. The lead swan (Cooper) dances a very sexual duet with the Prince. They almost kiss, flirt, and chase each other. The other swans dance topless around the two as the Prince is enticed into the swan's world. The swans, including Cooper, wear frilly pants but no shirts--which emphasizes the sexuality of the piece. Act 3 is set at a party where a young man courting the queen looks a lot like the swan causing an altercation. The Prince is distraught and in Act 4 he becomes quite ill and dies suddenly in his bed. Behind the bed is the swan holding his handsome young Prince as he finds peace at last.
The swan represents to the Prince everything he wants to be: strong, beautiful, and free. Matthew Bourne said, "We have gone for something much simpler and more universal. AMP's Swan Lake is about a man with no love in his life. He is rejected by his unsuitable girlfriend, his mother, the Queen, cannot express affection for her son, yet flaunts her young lovers in his presence. And his restricted lifestyle makes it impossible to connect with people without the threat of scandal." This "Swan Lake" was the big hit of 1996 with a myriad of modern influences and themes used to astonishing effect.
It's never an overtly gay ballet, although the pas de deux at the height of Act 2 delivers a strong homoerotic charge. It has humour and evokes feelings of sadness and sympathy for the characters. Adam Cooper is superb as the swan and his dance is breath-taking, and his performance as the evil doppleganger is equally impressive as he dirty dances his way into the queen's affections. Scott Ambler as the Prince mixes drama with dance perfectly, and without his performance as the weak, shy, loveless prince this production would be nothing. On DVD "Swan Lake" is presented in full screen 4:3 video format with Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound to showcase Tchaikovsky's score performed by The New London Orchestra. Peter Mumford directed.
