Flashback

Matthew Bourne on his groundbreaking Swan Lake

THIS PHOTOGRAPH is from a period of intense activity for both Adam and me. We’d experienced success we couldn’t have predicted, and it had changed our lives. Originally, our Swan Lake was only intended to be on for a couple of weeks in London and do a short tour. But after the premiere at Sadler’s Wells in 1995, the move to the West End in ’96, a tour and performances in Los Angeles, it was about to move to Broadway. There was a great sense of excitement, but we also couldn’t quite believe what was going on.

I was running a small dance theatre company and I’d done a production of The Nutcracker .I never thought I’d work on any classical ballets, but when that was successful, I wanted to have a go at another one. Swan Lake seemed the most obvious, but I felt I had to do something different with it. Having a male Swan was a way of making my version stand out. It wasn’t maintaining the original choreography in any way, it was a fresh look at the music, and the male Swan was a trigger for that.

I’d seen Adam dance a few times. He was an upand-coming star: tall and sexy. He had said he’d like to work with me, so I arranged to meet him. I think he thought I was going to ask him to be the Prince, but when I said the Swan he grabbed on to the idea straight away. It was quite brave of him to do it. People forget that. At the time, the idea of a male Swan was extraordinary. Most people thought it was going to be a parody or something to laugh at, rather than something to take seriously.

Adam was made a principal at the Royal Ballet, and we were a very small company. He was like a creature from another world, which worked well for the piece. I had to ask permission to use him. When I told Sir Anthony Dowell, director of the Royal Ballet at the time, that I wanted Adam to play the Swan, he thought about it and said, ‘Is there still a Prince?’ I said yes and he went, ‘Oh dear.’ But he loved the piece and said it was wonderful for a male dancer to have that opportunity.

The opening night was amazing because people didn’t know what to expect. I think they imagined men in drag, but when Adam first came on it was very intense. His Swan felt like a real wild animal. And when he appeared as the Black Swan – which we call the Stranger, this figure in black leather – it was electric. People went crazy. The production went beyond the arts pages, it was on the news pages of the papers: ‘the new Swan’.

— Interview by Tina Nandha

A new production of Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake is at Sadler’s Wells from 4 December to 27 January, and then touring (new-adventures.net )

When Adam appeared as the Black Swan – this figure in black leather – it was electric. People went crazy

Matthew Bourne with his Swan, Adam Cooper, before their Broadway debut, July 1998