Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty: A Gothic Romance – Theatre Royal, Norwich

Choreographer and Director: Matthew Bourne

Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty, arguably one of the most iconic of the New Adventures repertoire, reawakens for its tenth anniversary celebration. While the Tchaikovsky score will be familiar to all, this is not your Disney classic; Bourne’s show brings fairies, vampires, and a whole host of supernatural cast for a timeless love story that never follows the narrative you might expect.

While some of the traditional elements of the story remain; there are finger pricks and extended snoozes of course, Bourne brings in an entirely new subplot and character with Caradoc (Paris Fitzpatrick) who’s determination to fulfil his mother’s curse brings a dramatic power and intensity to the story which makes the entire narrative more threatening and more compelling. This reimagining of the classic comes with plenty of Bourne twists; using it as a vehicle to examine class, sexual awakening, and personal agency, which is particularly poignant as a free-spirited Aurora sheds her shoes, and her suitors, to drift and twirl freely.

In this Sleeping Beauty we get an Aurora who is her own person, not merely a cursed baby and a sleeping young woman. The character is brought to life in two different shapes during the piece, initially with an excitably and hyperactive puppet from Paradigm Effect who ensure that even when the character is at her most vulnerable she is never something as simple as an inert baby in a crib. As the child grows into the 21 year old (Cordelia Braithwaite) she becomes a playful, and somewhat sneaky, young woman who’s exuberance and freedom contrasts poignantly with her later suppression. Braithwaite’s character’s chemistry with Stephen Murray’s Leo is genuinely something special to watch and creates an atmosphere which, seemingly effortlessly, has the audience routing for them from their first moments together.

Adding to the dark, gothic atmosphere Lez Brotherston’s sets are elaborate, considered, and at times magical. They are clearly designed to reference the story’s medieval roots while also creating both the late 18^th and early 20^th centuries, and some magical forests to boot. The set pieces add to and enhance the movements of the characters and the shifting narrative and tensions of the performance in particular with the use of a set of impressive and foreboding gates. It is somewhat of a shame, then, that instead of an orchestra in the pit we have a recording of the Tchaikovsky masterpiece coming through the speakers. While it is of course an excellent recording there is a depth missing which would have captured the potential of enhancing the atmosphere of the piece so well.

Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty, while lavish, brooding, and beautiful is at its core a love story between two people and Braithwaite and Murray’s portrayals of Aurora and Leo make this version utterly timeless.

Runs Until: 8 April 2023