FIVE CREATIVE TAKEAWAYS FROM MATTHEW BOURNE'S SLEEPING BEAUTY
If you thought that a 130 year old ballet had nothing to teach you then think again!
Matthew Bourne’s stunningly sexy and Gothic Sleeping Beauty which I saw last week at the Mayflower Theatre Southampton is a new take on an old tale. It might be a ballet usingTchaikovsky’s original 19th century music but I think there is plenty that today’s creatives can learn from it. And, as with many of Matthew Bourne’s works, there is lots to takeaway about complacency, courage and commitment in our creative work.
The 5 Takeaways:
Get The Story Right For You - Matthew Bourne dug into all the different versions of Sleeping Beauty and created a story that totally suits his creative vision. This speaks to avoiding complacency when creating - he acknowledges the value of the other versions of the story but felt that he needed a different last act that would make more sense for him, his creative vision and his beliefs. In this version Aurora does not just marry the first guy that kisses her (without her consent) but actually has a proper emotional and physical love story. In the early stages of the creative process we have to be clear that the story we are telling is right for our vision. If we get along the creative road without that preparatory work we risk trying to force a square peg story into a round creative vision hole!
Tell The Hell Out Of Your Story - Once you have decided on your story you need to make sure that you serve it with everything you do. In Sleeping Beauty there is no opportunity missed to continue telling the story- even a seemingly throw away scene with four teenagers ‘discovering’ the overgrown gates of the palace where Aurora lies sleeping allows us to set the action in a particular time, to establish that a long time has passed and to remind us that the gates are still locked. The fact that the group take selfies in front of the gates distracts us from the fact that we are being given important information. If something in your work is not serving the story you are telling then ask yourself why is is there.
Invest in Your Future Talent - There were at least 7 dancers in this show who have received training from the New Adventures company. This commitment to the next generation ranges from running younger companies to making use of the apprenticeship scheme. The benefit for New Adventures are two fold: they are taking their social responsibility seriously but also by introducing younger dancers to the company’s creative style they are ensuring that they will have talent they can work with in the future.
Sex is not the same as Porn - Sex is such a hot button topic in the arts. This is because the way it has been represented historically has either been laughable or abusive. Very rarely is sex presented in an elegant way and very rarely in ballet is desire something that we understand. Sleeping Beauty is sexy. Aside from the Gothic vampire fantasies, Aurora has a physical relationship with Leo the gardener and much of the plot is driven by the idea of both physical and romantic love BUT there is nothing graphic or gratuitous in the piece. The physical is seen as an extension of the emotional and consent is shown.
Respect traditions but don’t be limited by them - New Adventures Makes Ballet for today and shows all creatives the importance of looking forward. Matthew Bourne immersed himself in Tchaikokovsky’s music and Petipa’s original ballet. But he did not allow himself to be hamstrung or restricted by traditional views. There are elements of the original story and the foundation of a curse and a 100 year sleep are still there. But many other traditions have been gently nodded to and equally gently replaced. Creatives must all know where we have come from and we must all know where we are going!
Check out New Adventures Sleeping Beauty on tour in the UK until April 2023
https://new-adventures.net