Thrilling, chilling theatre

Hurray for Matthew Bourne! It is 10 years since he created his allmale swan version of Swan Lake, since when it has become almost as important as traditional stagings of the ballet.

In fact, Bourne's Swan Lake is not so much a ballet as a danced drama, and he didn't so much remake Swan Lake as reveal it.

Loneliness and longing are themes in the traditional staging, as are sex, death and emotional metamorphosis. They're just hidden beneath all the tutus and tiaras and magicians and spells.

Bourne junked all that. He put the Prince centre stage, sexed up the Queen and flipped the ethereal, feminine swans into masculine birds of prey.

He also included a couple of cracking jokes about ballet itself. Bourne somehow clarified Swan Lake, and, for that, his 10th anniversary return to Sadler's Wells is worth celebrating. The question, of course, is whether his new generation of dancers can bring psychological truth to the choreography.

Adam Cooper and the great Lynn Seymour danced in the original production, and they could make old socks look charismatic. Nicola Tranah was a well-measured Queen, the Prince's lush of a mother whose emotional coldness makes him miserable. Tranah was especially good at hypocrisy. She orders the Prince to live the abstemious life, yet she's working through young flesh faster than a falling Bechstein.

Also good was José Tirado, although the one-time Royal Ballet dancer was better as the black-clad Stranger than the snowy Swan.

This dual role, which echoes Odette/Odile in the traditional Swan Lake and makes gay icons of them both, requires strong acting and strong dancing. Tirado delivered as The Stranger, but his Swan often lacked definition. It was also in short supply among the corps of swans, who showed some very sloppy positioning in Act I.

The Prince was played on the official first night by Neil Westmoreland. Although an experienced dancer, his acting lacked depth and he didn't quite make the transition from frustrated, foot-stamping child to doomed Prince.

However, credit to the orchestra, and to Lez Brotherston's designs and the ensemble who rose to the challenge of Bourne's closing crescendo.