Matthew Bourne
Sir Matthew Christopher Bourne OBE (born 13 January 1960) is a British choreographer. His productions contain many classic cinema and popular culture references and draw thematic inspiration from musicals, film noir and popular culture
This article is about the choreographer. For the British jazz musician, see Matthew Bourne (musician). For the professional wrestler known as Matt Borne, see Matt Osborne.
Matthew Bourne
1985–present
The Nutcracker 1992
- Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production 1996
- 1999 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director - Swan Lake [1]
- 1999 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Choreography – Swan Lake[2]
- 2001 Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for Services to Dance
- 2002 Laurence Olivier Award - for My Fair Lady (2001 London revival)
- 2007 Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience - Edward Scissorhands
Popular novels and films usually form the basis for his work but Bourne's dance adaptations are sui generis, distinct from their originals. For example, his 1995 restaging of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake updated the ballet's setting, narrative and famously used all-male swans.
Workshops, collaboration and the innevitable dialogue with the original works inform many of his adaption's choreographical routines and thematic concepts. For his 1997 reimagining of Cinderella, Bourne invoked the Victorian and Edwardian eras by disseminating certain books and novels from those time periods amongst the production's cast members.
His New Adventures dance company's work covers ballet, contemporary dance, dance theatre and musical theatre.
His adaptations of Sleeping Beauty, Edward Scissorhands, The Red Shoes, Dorian Gray, and Lord of the Flies added new dimensions to these near-ubiquitous stories. Bourne's recent work, The Midnight Bell, sets Patrick Hamilton's 1929 novel in a pub, and Bourne's Romeo and Juliet put the tragedy's mental health and youth suicide themes centre stage.
In 2016, he was knighted as part of Queen Elizabeth II 2016 New Year Honours list for 'Services to Dance'.[3]
Early life and influences[edit]
Bourne was born on January 13, 1960, in Hackney, London, England.[4]
His mother was a secretary and his father worked for Thames Water.
Bourne had no formal ballet training during his childhood. However, as a teenager, he was passionate about show business. He would frequently autograph hunt in London's West End after his mother took him to see Dame Edith Evans and Friends in 1974 at the Theatre Royal Haymarket.[5][6] He wrote to and received letters back from Joan Crawford, Charlie Chaplin and Bette Davies. He was eighteen when he attended Sadler's Wells Theatre to see his first ballet, Swan Lake.[5][6]
He worked as a filing clerk at the BBC and as an usher at The National Theatre for four years after graduating from William Fitt and Sir George Monoux School in Walthamstow, London.[6]
At 20 he started studying at London's Laban Centre and began dance classes at 22. In 1985, he toured for two years with the centre's dance company. However, his interests gradually shifted from dancing to choreographing for television, theatre, and other dance companies.[4]
He completed a BA honours degree in contemporary dance in 1985. And in 1986, he graduated with an MA in dance performance.[7] He co-founded the London-based company Adventures in Motion Pictures (AMP) in 1987.[4]
Bourne's radical reinterpretations of classic ballets set him apart as a choreographer. In 1992, he placed the Christmas Eve scene of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker in a Victorian orphanage reminiscent of a Charles Dickens novel. His 1994 version of Filippo Taglioni's La Sylphide titled Highland Fling, was set in a modern-day Glaswegien housing project.[4][8] Highland Fling was also the beginning of Bourne's creative alliance with the designer Lez Brotherston.[9]
Personal life[edit]
Bourne started his dance training at the relatively late age of 22, and trained at Trinity Laban in London. Before that he describes himself as self-taught, saying "my first ever dance class was my audition for dance college when I was 21".
As a teenager he would take the bus to the West End to collect autographs.[58] Bourne attended the London Gay Teenage Group in Holloway, North London. He spoke about this on the Jo Whiley show on BBC Radio 2 in 2018. [59]
As of 2015 Bourne is in a long-term relationship with contemporary dance choreographer Arthur Pita, who has been described as the "David Lynch of dance". Pita says of their relationship, "we talk about work a lot, but it's never competitive, our styles are so different".[60] The two met through Bourne's production of Swan Lake, when Bourne was director and Arthur was a swan.[61]
In addition to his 2016 knighthood, Bourne has received multiple awards and award nominations, including the Laurence Olivier Award, Tony Award, and Drama Desk Award, and has also received several honorary doctorates of arts from UK universities.[62]