DanceReview

Latitude Festival 2017 – New Adventures: Country

Choreographer: Matthew Bourne
Reviewer: Lucy Ross

Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures delivered a welcomed snippet of their touring show Country. The well-known and delightful dance routines complimented and set itself perfectly into the green trees and rolling hills of the Latitude festival backdrop, immersing its audience in the music and picturesque sequences representing the English countryside in the ‘good old days’. It provided the festival goers of Latitude a 30-minute escape from thudding bass and eccentric performance and settled them into a comfortable enchanting rhythm of dance and music.

Tell Us Block Edited E1475239765135The chosen sequences from the original show gave the audience enough of a taste to enjoy a variety of emotions for all ages, providing a heartfelt and joyful performance. Each dance routine ran smoothly into the next, never breaking the illusion or distracting from the action on stage. The bygone costumes and classical music by Edward Elgar, Noel Coward and Percy Grainger, immersed its audience into a classical painting or post card representing the picturesque romantic image of the working class and high-life fancies of the English countryside.

Even with the limitations of performing at a large festival, where time is short, the stage minimal and the effects almost nonexistent, the work never lacked in weight and kept elements of the beauty of the original show. Performing in the English countryside helped provide the perfect setting for the large audience that gathered for the experience, and as the performance started, it transported you into the idyllic countryside setting.

Offering a fully immersive experience with the smell of fresh grass and the bleating of the Latitude pink sheep in the distance, it was a perfect location for its enchanting English idyll and couldn’t have been performed to a more welcoming crowd.

Reviewed on 15 July 2017 | Image: Johan Persson

Review Overview

The Reviews Hub Score

Enchanting

Show More
Photo of The Reviews Hub - London

The Reviews Hub - London

The Reviews Hub London is under the acting editorship of Richard Maguire. The Reviews Hub was set up in 2007. Our mission is to provide the most in-depth, nationwide arts coverage online.

Related Articles

Back to top button
The Reviews Hub