Matthew Bourne’s Cinderella at the Theatre Royal Nottingham Review

Reviewed by Nigel Chester

Nottingham’s Theatre Royal, Cinderella and Matthew Bourne – the perfect ingredients for one of the most outstanding performances I have ever seen, all bound together by the music of Prokofiev.

This is a ballet unlike any I have seen before, it is contemporary and seamlessly moves between different dance styles, jazz, waltz, swing or modern, all have their place within this performance.

It is Cinderella in so far as the underpinning music is Prokofiev’s wonderful score, written between 1940 and 1944. The story, of a dysfunctional family, a lost shoe and a found love is where the similarities end and the magic begins.

Our Cinderella is set in war-torn London during the blitz. The inspiration for this, Bourne tells us is from the fact that Prokofiev wrote the score during this period. The music came first, and Bourne’s choreography matches every move to it, however, even though I knew this, I find it difficult to comprehend that this music wasn’t written for this dance, every beat and note fitting perfectly with every step and movement.

We open with a Pathe newsreel, projected onto a gossamer screen, the company form the cinema audience on one side and we the theatre audience on the other. This short prologue set the tone of what was to come, it gave us insight into the mood of the nation and the horror of the war.

Unusually for today, the evening was divided into three acts with two intervals, this spacing was perfect, we were transfixed during each short forty-minute bite.

The setting for scene one is the family home of Cinderella, it is monochrome. We meet the family, Robert, the wheelchair bound broken father (Alan Vincent), the evil step-mother, Sybil (Madelaine Brennan) and the protagonists five step-siblings, two sisters and three brothers, each given their own personality and agenda, from the lecherous Vernon (Dan Wright) whose performance was constantly menacing and funny in equal measure, to the short trousered Spitfire loving little brother Elliott (Mark Samaras). During this time, an invitation arrives that Cinderella (Ashley Shaw) has no part of.

During an air raid, a stranger takes refuge in the family home, Harry the pilot. Cinderella falls in love and once Harry has gone on his way, the reflective dance is one of the most memorable.

As we move to scene two, we have our first glimpse of how clever the set design and production will be. Cinderella steps through the door and is somehow on the outside, we move to the blacked-out streets of London. Planes are overhead, and gasometers are the backdrop, this really is London during the Second World War.

In this adaptation, we have an angel (Liam Mower) rather than the more usual fairy-godmother. He has some of the best solos and for this received the loudest applause at the end – Bourne took his inspiration for this characterisation from the classic 1946 film “A matter of life and death” as well as Fred Astaire’s dancing angel in “The bishops wife”.

We were so completely lost in the story that, as the scenes changed dramatically we knew it had changed but were at a loss to say how it happened. The lighting sound and projection and the physical sets were as breath-taking as the dancers, the marriage of genres seamless. The costumes designed by Ed Parry, were sometimes quirky but always perfect.

This was a silent movie brought to full colour and full life, it was every wartime romantic film. The setting of the ballroom scene in the Café De Paris, which was obliterated in a bombing raid in 1941 was pure genius.

The story moves onward and Harry and Cinderella’s love is forged then lost. He has the look of a vulnerable shell-shocked airman, who is treated in the convalescent home in the shocking manner of the day.

Our fabulous evening draws to its conclusion on Paddington Station, where love is abundant and partings difficult.

Brilliant Bourne, I wouldn’t be surprised if history were to judge him to be the Shakespeare of choreography.

Rating: 5/5

Tickets cost from £19.50 to £44 (booking fees may apply).

Matthew Bourne’s Cinderella is at the Theatre Royal in Nottingham from 6-10 March 2018, for more information or to book tickets visit www.trch.co.uk or call the box office on 0115 989 5555.

Theatre Royal & Royal Concert Hall, Theatre Square, Nottingham, NG1 5ND