‘These films have actually been a massive, positive thing for us’
With touring impossible, legendary ballet director and choreographer Sir Matthew Bourne is reaching his audience in other ways.
The tour of Sir Matthew Bourne’s latest blockbuster show, The Red Shoes, was in full swing when the lockdown bit. Matthew remembers well where they were when they were forced to pull the tour: ‘We were in Wimbledon, actually, and we were due to go to Bradford the week after. ‘And then we were supposed to be going on to an Asian tour after going to Japan and China and South Korea. We had a whole lineup of Asian dates, we'd still be doing it now, actually, right through to October.’ Knighted for his services to dance in 2016, among numerous other awards and accolades, Matthew has arguably done more than anyone else to bring ballet to a mass audience. His adaptations of Bizet's Carmen (The Car Man), Edward Scissorhands, an allmale Swan Lake and a Second World Warset Cinderella, among others, have played to packed houses across the globe. But with all major productions currently on hold, he is coming to The Kings Theatre in Southsea for a day celebrating his work – there will be screenings of Swan Lake, The Red Shoes and The Car Man, with Q&As with the man himself between the films. And the Q&As are something Matthew often takes part in when his shows are on the road. ‘I usually go around with the tour to each venue – we tend to play a week in each place. I like to be there at the beginning of the week for the tech rehearsal, and then the first couple of shows, then usually at the end of the first night I'll put a Q&A in at the end of the show. ‘People are often quite surprised I'm there, sort of: “I didn’t think you would come,” so it's quite nice to meet people and make that sort of contact – and I enjoy it! ‘I enjoy answering the questions and seeing what people think about the show, and seeing if I can help them out in any way with any questions they've got. ‘It's not a silly assumption [I won’t be there], because a lot of shows do go around and their directors and their choreographers are not with them anymore. ‘But of course, I run a company so it's an ongoing thing with the dancers and the relationships with them. I like to keep those relationships going, and with the venues as well. ‘I understand why people might not think I’d be there, but where else will I be when my show’s on?’ Which brings us back to that cancelled tour. Matthew says it’s the younger team members he feels most for. ‘We did miss out on quite a lot. I've done it several times before so it wasn't such a massive blow to me in not going to China or Japan, but for them if they’ve not been there before, I think they were very excited, so I really felt for them.’ With the bigger shows on hold, it has been announced that Bourne’s New Adventures company is creating three new short films under the banner Adventures in Film, due for release this autumn. The choreographer admits it’s an attempt to do something, anything, creative under the current conditions. ‘It's sort of guesswork a little bit, you have to assume in a way, or you think, what's going to come back first? What could we try and pull off first? ‘And it’s something to employ people, our dancers and our crew and everyone who works with us. So we've been thinking of films, and we have got some more ideas for films over the next six to nine months, depending on what we're allowed to do, ‘We've got things up our sleeve where we feel we can achieve certain things without an audience. ‘Until we can get back to full unsocialdistance audiences, we can't really do our shows. I know there's been some positive moves with some of the theatres coming back and working at a loss. It’s incredible that they're doing that, just doing something to be positive, so well done to them, but it can't last very long like that, because you just haemorrhaging money.’ Depending on how the pandemic develops, Matthew and his company have various plans in place. ‘Those are all big issues to deal with, and I don't think the public necessarily understand sometimes why, or how things happen, and why should they? It's not their business to understand that, but it just takes a long time to get things up and running.’ With 90 per cent of his company employed show-to-show as freelancers, Matthew’s also very conscious of the impact of the pandemic on his team. ‘We have a small office of about eight people who work full time and that's about it, really. Some of the crew and some of the people in the office were able to be furloughed, but it didn't work for everyone. ‘So we've been trying to help our regulars – our regular performers and crew, to win a few little grants here and there, and there's been some very generous people who have come in to help us with that. ‘We've been able to help a little bit, but it's not been regular income, and that's what I've been mainly worried about is all these very loyal people who have worked with me for years, not having any work, and that's been really sad.’ As it stands, his next show scheduled to hit the road is Nutcracker, currently booked in to tour late 2021. ‘We’re keeping our fingers crossed for earlier than that. We've got a possible plan for something in June. ‘There’s a possible plan for something in March that we could do that doesn't rely on too much – it's not like a big tour or anything.’ But with the shifting rules, it’s difficult to predict what they will be able to put on, if anything. In the meantime, screenings of the shows have been the next best thing. ‘These films have actually been a massive, positive thing for us, because we've been able to show them in various ways, like on Sky or in theatres, but The Red Shoes hasn’t been shown yet – it's a new one, we only filmed it in January. It’s lucky we got it done. ‘They're very good representations of a live show – you do feel like you're watching a live show, and that's nice – possibly a little bit depressing,’ he gives a wry laugh, ‘as well, for those of us who love going to live theatre.’ He’s also found them a booster for morale. ‘We’ve also been able to do a lot of screenings online, and special event screenings in these last few months, and we've done a Q&A with members of the company afterwards or original cast members, and it’s given a great sense of pride to people involved in their work. ‘Seeing them again now has made people really appreciate what they've done. They've been proud of what they've done, and they can't wait to get to do it again.’ We have four pairs of tickets to give away for the sold-out A Day With Sir Matthew Bourne, starting at 11am on Saturday, October 3, featuring three show screenings and two Q&A sessions. To be in with a chance of winning a pair, email features@thenews. co.uk with the answer to this question: Which Shakespeare play did Sir Matthew produce as a ballet? The deadline for entries is midnight, Wednesday, September 30.
Until we can get back to full unsocial-distance audiences, we can't really do our shows MATTHEW BOURNE ON TOURING AGAIN