Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty At The Mayflower Theatre, Review

Reviewed by Mel S-W

What a way to spend a Tuesday night! We arrived at the theatre having parked locally, to find extremely helpful and knowledgeable staff who were so polite and courteous. When asking for help, nothing was too much hassle and was always assisted with a smile.

We arrived at the Mayflower Theatre full of anticipation and Sleeping Beauty did not disappoint! This was my first experience of a ballet and Michael Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty was the perfect introduction for me and will endeavour to see more of his work.

The theatre itself is very grand inside. We were situated on the dress circle (seats F5&6) where it was very nice to have comfortable seats. The seats have a higher gradient than the stalls but ensured that we had an excellent view of the stage to enable us to take in all of the action. There was a fair amount of leg room available and there were no obstructions to our view.

Sat to the right of the dress circle meant that we were faced with a background of mirrors so not only could we see the dancers face on, but their reflections in the mirrors gave it an extra dimension.

The set design looked exquisite and very realistic. It’s really made you feel that you were in the regal mansion of King Benedict and Queen Eleanor. The use of mirrors and a travelator really added to the production as characters were able to move seamlessly around the stage adding to dramatic scenes. The second half saw the stripping away of the elegant mansion, and a beautiful forest appear

The costumes were beautiful and had so much detail in them I specially loved Carabosse’s red outfit, it was so grand and opulent. The fairy’s were all dressed separately and they were able to reflect their different characters through their dancing. It was great that they also brought Sleeping Beauty into the 2011 and today with a humour and the introduction of vampires into this classic tale.

Cordelia Braithwaite was a stand out for me, her portrayal of Aurora. She danced so beautifully, had such great expressions on her face throughout. Even when playing the sleeping princess she was so elegant. Ben Brown as Carabosse/Caradoc brought dramatic entrances to the stage and kept us on the edge of our seats. He commanded the audiences attention throughout his scenes. Even when he arrived quietly on stage your eyes were drawn to him.

The dancing was just so beautiful that it kept us on the edge of our seats in awe. I didn’t want the show to finish but on the other hand I wanted to find out how the story ended. The Tchaikovsky score was also a stand out giving me goosebumps especially hearing the most recognisable Garland Waltz throughout.

I loved that there were elements of humour throughout the performance. A firm favourite – which you could tell from the laughter in the crowd – was baby Aurora. The puppeteers added so much humour to the first scene which got the audience chuckling away together with the training of Leo the Royal Gamekeeper by Count Lilac the King of the Fairies.

The crowd were in awe of the performance, the rapture of the applause throughout was testament to beauty of the performance. The curtain call was such that performers dream off, where the audience really showed how enjoyable their evening had been. Would highly recommend this performance and would seek to watch other performances in the future – a perfect mix of beauty, scattered humour to keep the crowd engaged and just pure elegance.

Rating: I would give the show an overall 5 out of 5.

The tickets cost from £29.50 and was a very reasonable price for the tickets.

Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty runs from 14 -18 March

Tickets can be booked by visiting https://www.mayflower.org.uk/

Mayflower Theatre 22-26 Commercial Rd, Southampton SO15 1GE