Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake (State Theatre)

Having bid an audacious farewell to convention, Matthew Bourne celebrates the immensely successful 10th anniversary of his brilliant reinvention of the enduring Tchaikovsky classic, Swan Lake, with an exciting North American Tour stop in Minneapolis. As the longest running ballet in London's West End, Swan Lake has thrilled audiences throughout the world, garnering three Tony Awards in 1999 and over thirty international theatre awards. By introducing a strong, yet utterly sensual and beautiful corps of bare-chested male swans with feathered pants and black tribal-esque markings on their foreheads, Bourne creates a semi-satirical world of feral intensity and dramatic power - definitively abandoning the standard Petipa-Ivanov style, delicate tutus, and signature 32-fouette sequence. With the intent of speaking to, exciting, and moving a modern audience, Bourne holds fast to the timeless theme of the isolating emptiness and potential for madness imbedded in the continual yearning for an unattainable ideal. Maintaining a disarmingly comedic tone throughout, witty references to the British Royal Family confronts the dysfunction between the terribly weak and impressionable Prince and his manipulative mother, the Queen. As the story unfolds through an endless vocabulary of movement, it becomes painfully apparent that it is the Prince's genuine and misplaced desire for love and acceptance that fuels his imaginings and obsession with the Swans. Amidst the backdrop of longing, betrayal, duty, and love, the Prince becomes a bridge between the dual realities of kinesthetic Swans and stodgy public obligations. Illustrating the difficult and conflicting truths that exist within the realm of human emotion, the stage is thereby set for passionate pas de deuxs, sexually charged waltzes, intimately honest physical interactions, and aggressive, almost primal sequences. Maintaining a firm alliance between dancing and acting, Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake seamlessly moves through time, expressing more of a visual and potent narrative through variations of classical ballet, contemporary dance, social dance, and mime. Through the elegance and versatility of costuming (1950s couture to vintage SoHo stylings of the 1970s), and the simple yet refined set design by Lez Brotherston, a deeper relationship with the key characters is encouraged, as their viability as imperfect and unstable entities is enhanced by the stylistic aesthetic. With Alan Vincent as The Swan and Neil Penlington as The Prince soaring as strong leads, the thrill and necessity of the soul's freedom incites our deepest human desire and fear: to soar above the troubled confines of our earthly suffering. Performances: W-Th 7:30p; F 8p; Sa 2p & 8p; Su 1p & 6p Tickets: $30-$58

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