Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty

Synopsis/Company

Perrault's timeless fairy tale, about a young girl cursed to sleep for one hundred years, was turned into a legendary ballet by choreographer, Marius Petipa, in 1890. Bourne takes this as his starting point, setting the Christening of Aurora, the story's heroine, in the year of the ballets 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 and wonderful than any Fairy story! 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, across the decades, that even the passage of time itself cannot hinder. World Premiere. Running time: 2hrs 20mins (including one 20 min interval)


Music Tchaikovsky. Company New Adventures. Choreographer Matthew Bourne (new scenario after Perrault and Petipa). Director Matthew Bourne. Sound Paul Groothuis. Lighting Paule Constable. Design Lez Brotherston. Costume Lez Brotherston.