Review: Sleeping Beauty is storytelling at its purest
10th Anniversary production of Matthew Bourne’s Gothic romance remains magnificent.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, then on tour
‘Once Upon A Time…’ four words that since our earliest days have had the power to transport us to wondrous worlds inhabited by magical beings and evil entities as the battle between good and evil rages on… and so begins Matthew’s Bourne’s magnificent Sleeping Beauty.
Lez Brotherston’s majestic and moody set design, richly contrasting highlights and shadows, takes the 26-strong New Adventures’ dancers and audience alike to a Gothic paradise, or should that be hell. A place where vampiric fairies live and Princess Aurora’s Royal tantrums are regular occurrences from the day she arrives - her infant years revealed through stunning puppetry.
Described as a ‘Gothic Romance’, this 10th Anniversary production of Sleeping Beauty, danced to the soaring and dramatic melodies of Tchaikovsky, may eschew the familiar spinning wheel in favour of the equally traditional rose but the basic story of love and betrayal remains.
Having provided the childless King Benedict and Queen Eleanor with a daughter they can call their own, the evil fairy Carabosse vows revenge when she is overlooked as the royals celebrate the young Princess’s arrival.
Cursed to sleep for 100 years on the days she comes of age, Aurora’s love, Leo, the Royal Gamekeeper, must find a way to be there to awaken her…’. Enter Count Lilac, King of the Fairies with a novel solution.
Danced with passion and precision, Bourne’s choreography is a feast for the eyes, intricate and all encompassing there’s something to see wherever your gaze may fall, the attention to the smallest detail is astonishing.
Whether it’s Cordelia Braithwaite’s feisty and fearless Aurora, full of attitude and independence, Dominic North’s seductive Count Lilac, an entrancing yet disturbing performance, or Stephen Murray’s robust, energetic Leo, all three meet Bourne’s challenge with grace and skill, as do the other members of the company.
With nothing more than a handful of captions to move the narrative along, the company allow this mesmerising adventure to unfold - this is storytelling at its purest, lush and dynamic.
And, of course, having survived the Gothic menace and avoided the threat of a bad romance, mention must be made of as Paris Fitzpatrick’s entrancing and deeply insidious Caradoc, son of Carabosse, Aurora and Leo live happily ever after as once again good triumphs over evil.
Or does it.
Full tour details are here https://new-adventures.net/