The Car Man – The Lowry, Salford Quays

Music: Terry Davies and Rodion Shchedrin (after Bizet)

Director: Sir Matthew Bourne

This is a magnificent film-noir style theatrical dance. Sir Matthew Bourne doesn’t like to describe his dance as ballet and is noted for disliking the use of technical balletic leaps and twirls for the sake of it. Consequently, the evening does feel less like a ballet and more like a piece of theatre – just one without words – a story told through dance, acting, mime, music, lighting and set design.

The setting is an Italian-American community in a small 1960s mid-western town in the USA and is beautifully created by Lez Brotherston (set) and Chris Davey (lighting). The story mixes aspects of the original Carmen with the James M Cain novel The Postman Always Rings Twice. The resulting gritty, hard-hitting story of lust, fate, revenge, murder and casual misogyny isn’t an easy watch in terms of content, but is grippingly and believably recreated by the talented cast. The community that they depict of herd-mentality, macho men, surrounded by trophy women in a dead-end town where the only outlets are drink, violence and sex is at once recognisable.

The set is stunning – from Dino’s garage and bar, complete with 1950/60s cars and roadside billboard, to the stylish city nightclub and grim jailhouse. The costumes and lighting complement that beautifully – the mechanics are all grubby, hunky and macho in denim and vests and the women all gorgeous, curvaceous and enticing in classic 1950/60s full skirted dresses.

At the centre of the story is Luca, the Car Man (Will Bozier), a handsome but hard and mysterious drifter whose arrival in the town disrupts everyone, particularly when he gets involved both with the garage owner’s wife and one of the male workers (Leonardo McCorkindale). The resulting web of attraction, resentment, jealousy and anger drives the story to its tragic end.

The dance is stunning and apparently effortless. In particular, you will swear that Will Bozier can defy gravity. His jumps and leaps have a time-stopping athleticism and control that take the breath away. The scene in a nightclub where he dances, drunk, with Cordelia Braithwaite as Dino’s wife, is incredible.

There are number of standout scenes: the scene setting by the company before the start of the show which gives the audience time to explore the set and get a sense of what is to come; the tender, shy, pas de deux between Leonardo McCorkindale and Anna Maria de Freitas as a young couple exploring their attraction to one another; the shower scene after a day’s work (where you will believe that you’ve seen six grown men shower on stage); the steaminess of multiple sexual encounters on stage (and in a car!); the ensemble piece depicting a hot, sultry afternoon through lighting, smoke and languorous movement; the pent up rage and frustration of the prisoners in the jailhouse; the athletic abandon of the ensemble pieces where the full cast of mechanics and women celebrate the end of the working day; to the scene in the stylish nightclub where the mechanics and their women look so hopelessly style-less in their Stetson hats and best country garb.

This tour of The Car Man is the first for ten years (it was created in 2000) and includes Alan Vincent – the original Car Man, now playing the garage owner Dino. It’s a must see – you can’t risk missing it for another decade.

 Runs until 27 June 2026 and then on tour