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Interviews
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The Hitchcock of Dance Philip Fisher talks to Matthew Bourne A meeting with Dance Theatre auteur Matthew Bourne swiftly demonstrates that he has become a worldwide phenomenon. He graciously spares half-an-hour from a busy rehearsal schedule at a converted mill in East London to talk about the activities that his New Adventures Company are currently involved in. The list is impressive. As well as a revival of Car Man, which is to open in Plymouth in mid-June before a nationwide tour taking in Sadler's Wells in London, his dance version of Tim Burton's cult movie Edward Scissorhands has just completed a six-month tour of the United States. In addition, Bourne has just returned from Russia where he has fulfilled a long-held ambition. He was there to see his version of Swan Lake opening the Chekhov Festival at the Moscow Art Theatre, thus at long last introducing his work to Tchaikovsky's fellow-countrymen. "It's a lovely house to play in because it's got a large stage and a smallish auditorium. The Russian audience is getting this big show in this small, intimate space. They get more involved in the performances - it's great". He proudly talks of a 95 year-old ex Bolshoi ballerina who was blown away by this version of a ballet that she had danced in many times. She wasn't alone. The production had a great reception and "when the Russians love you they really love you. It's fantastic". Matthew Bourne was born in 1960 in Hackney not too far from his current rehearsal studios. Amazingly, the director and choreographer "came to dance very late. I started dance training when I was 22 and I didn't discover ballet or modern dance until I was 20." Therefore, his early influences are very different from those of many of his peers. "Before that, my loves were MGM musicals - Julie Andrews' films. The first film that I saw was The Sound of Music. "My storytelling now is influenced by movies and theatre of that time and since. Those were my first loves; dance came later and has become something that I love very much. It's the medium through which I tell stories". When asked to categorise his work, he says that the Americans, after seeing Edward Scissorhands and eventually deciding that no words were going to be forthcoming, have now christened his genre "dancical". Bourne has a strong belief that he can "incorporate the ways of theatre and movies into my dance productions". He acknowledges that "The strange mix of ballet, modern dance, social dance, tap-dance and flamenco is highly theatrical" and that ability to use dance to tell stories has become his unique trade mark. He is obviously keen to talk about his current work-in-progress, the Car Man, which, though partly based on Bizet's opera, in fact has a storyline that is drawn loosely from James M Cain's novel The Postman Always Rings Twice, well known for two different movie versions as well as a recent London stage production. The set on which the dancers are rehearsing is the real one that will follow them around the country, and looks like something drawn from any number of Edward Hopper small-town America paintings with its dusty old cars and gas pump. Bourne is really enthusiastic about this revival. "This was the first time that I could use the score like a film score, so I could write the story first and then fit the music to the story. Pieces I'd done before like the Nutcracker! and Swan Lake - the music is your guide because the music is written to tell a story". As he admits, he was also a keen to do a dance thriller, if that is possible. Surprisingly, one of the biggest influences on this piece is Alfred Hitchcock. "I'm a very big fan of Hitchcock, so Hitchcock comes into my thinking quite a lot. I like the suspense but also entertainment, glamour, comedy all these things you don't think about as Hitchcock things but they are always there in the movies". In addition to his dance pieces, Bourne has worked as a choreographer on a number of musicals and clearly feels a great affection for them. He picks the projects on which he wishes to work very carefully so that they are always "passions". To date, highlights have included Oliver ("of course, I had to do that"), My Fair Lady ("what a great thing to be able to do") and especially Mary Poppins, still playing in both the West End and on Broadway. When Cameron Mackintosh originally suggested that project, the reaction was instant: "Don't forget me, I'd be the tea boy on it!" Inevitably, when it finally came to be staged somebody else made the tea but Matthew Bourne choreographed the musical and put the dancers through their paces. When he is writing now, Bourne tries to please as wide a potential audience as he can manage. As he says with his commercial hat on, his company could not survive if they were only appealing to dance audiences. "I make it for anyone who is willing to give this kind of work a chance. They need someone to tell them, usually a friend who says 'come and see this'. I think about someone who has come to see this with an open mind and just sits there and you tell them a story; and I want to grab them, involve them and make them laugh in the first few minutes so they have relaxed; and then take them on a journey". This is a man who appears very satisfied with his life at the moment. He relishes the idea of having a company, which frees him up to do whatever work he likes. Having said that, if there are any adventurous producers out there, the suggestion of directing a play with words (as opposed to Play Without Words, his piece at the National Theatre) appeals. Until then, audiences around the world have the chance to enjoy a wide selection of Bourne dance creations. He has not decided on what he wants to do next, but whatever it is, this talented artist is bound to bring back old fans and win new audiences to his wonderful dancicals.
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