Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake
マシュー・ボーンの『白鳥の湖』は、ロシアのロマン派作品『白鳥の湖』をもとにした現代バレエで、チャイコフスキーの音楽と大まかな筋書きはここからきている。ボーン演出では、白鳥の伝統的な女性役を男性が踊っていることで知られている。ロンドンのウエストエンドとブロードウェイで最も長く上演されたバレエである。1995年にロンドンのサドラーズ・ウェルズ劇場で初演された後、英国、ロサンゼルス、ヨーロッパ、ロシア、オーストラリア、韓国、日本、イスラエル、シンガポールで上演されている。あらすじ - このバレエは、幼い皇太子と遠く離れた母親、そして白鳥に象徴される自由への欲望を中心に展開されます。(English) Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake is a contemporary ballet based on the Russian romantic work Swan Lake, from which it takes Tchaikovsky's music and the broad outlines of the plot. Bourne's version is best known for having the traditionally female parts of the swans danced by men. It was the longest-running ballet in London's West End and on Broadway. It was first performed at Sadler's Wells, London, in 1995 and has toured the UK, Los Angeles, Europe, Russia, Australia, South Korea, Japan, Israel and Singapore. Synopsis - The ballet's plot revolves around a young crown prince, his distant mother and his desire for freedom, represented by a swan.
Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake - Synopsis.
A prince grows up without his mother's love. He is rejected by his mother, the Queen, who disapproves of his Girlfriend.
One day, the prince follows his Girlfriend to a nightclub, where he fights with another customer and is thrown out of the club, where the paparazzi photograph him.
He ends up in a park at night, and the prince, tired of life, decides to take his own life. Just then, a dignified swan appears in front of him.
The beautiful and powerful swan heals the prince's heart as it dances with its flock, and he regains his zest for life.
Meanwhile, a ball is being held at the palace for princesses from all over the world. A man arrives late and exudes an alluring charm.
The prince is deeply disturbed when he sees him. The man is a reflection of the swan he met in the park.
The man seduces people; eventually, even the Queen's heart is captured. Unable to bear the sight of him, the prince's actions in his rage lead to further tragedy...
The prince produces a pistol and threatens to shoot his mother.
As shots ring out, the Girlfriend and the Prince fall to the ground, but only the Girlfriend has been hit.
The prince, regarded as having lost his mind, is confined to an asylum in a room and is treated by a doctor.
The prince crawls into bed and appears to sleep.
His lead swan then slowly emerges from the prince's bed.
The swan dances with the prince, assuring him of his continued affection.
But the other swans turn on the leader when he makes it clear that he values his relationship with the prince more than the swans.
The Queen then finds the body of her dead son and breaks down in sobs.
In death, however, the Prince and the Swan are reunited, as shown by a tableau in which the leading swan tenderly holds the young prince in his arms.
***
Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake
Act I
1)
In the prologue, the prince, as a child, is awakened by a nightmare of a swan. The prince's mother comes in to comfort him but becomes nervous at the intimacy of the situation and leaves.
Scene 1 opens with the prince being prepared for a day of official duties by the chambermaids and valets.
2)
In scene 2, dressed in his full uniform, the prince is bored with a boat christening, a ribbon cutting and other official duties.
His mother urges him to keep up appearances, although she pays more attention to the soldiers than him.
3)
During this scene, there is a transition from the child actor playing the young prince to the identically dressed adult dancer portraying the adult prince.
This now adult prince is introduced to a girl called "the Girlfriend". Although the girl seems to be imposed on him by Von Rothbart, the private secretary, the prince prefers her to his life of duty.
4)
In scene 3, the Queen, one of her admiring soldiers, the Private Secretary, the prince and the girlfriend appear in a theatre box where they are watching a ballet staged for the audience and the characters.
The ballet's set, elaborate costumes and acting parody the romantic ballets of which the original Swan Lake was an example. The girlfriend's reactions to the dancing and dropping her purse from the royal box annoy the Queen and Von Rothbart.
5)
To his mother's shock, Scene 4 finds the prince drinking in his private chambers in front of a mirror.
An almost violent pas de deux ensues in which he pleads for her attention and love while she rebukes him.
6)
Scenes five and six take the prince out into the streets and the Swank Bar, a 1970s-style disco.
Here the choreography shifts from classical ballet to jazz forms and modern dance.
8)
Sitting in the street at the end of scene seven, the prince imagines a group of swans flying towards him, but the vision disappears.
It is the first flash of the prince's descent into mental turmoil.
Act II
9)
Distraught and disappointed that he will never find affection, the prince writes a suicide note and throws himself into a lake in a public park inhabited by swans.
He is saved by a vision in which he meets the leading swan who has appeared to him in his dreams.
10)
Initially rejected by Leader Swan, the prince is gradually accepted and taken into his arms.
The prince is delighted and abandons his plan to kill himself.
Act III
11)
Scene 1 begins with princesses from various European nations and their escorts arriving at the palace gates for a grand ball.
"The girlfriend" sneaks in among them.
12)
Scene 2 is set in a ballroom.
It begins with the arrival of the Queen and the Prince and some formal dancing but quickly degenerates into a raucous drinking party.
13)
Into this arrives von Rothbart's charismatic and sexually aggressive son, the private secretary in black leather trousers, who ratchets up the sexual tension by flirting with every woman present, including the Queen.
14)
As in the original Swan Lake, where the roles of the White Swan (Odette) and the Black Swan (Odile) are usually played by the same ballerina, in this version, the same dancer plays the White Swan and the black-clad young von Rothbart.
15)
The prince sees something of his beloved swan in von Rothbart. He is very much attracted by his bravery and animal magnetism but is shocked by his sensuality, especially towards his mother.
16)
His father, the Private Secretary, looks on with an increasingly triumphant approval.
The prince also tries to approach young von Rothbart, only to be rebuffed.
The prince retreats into his mind and imagines dancing intimately with him, but the prince's confusion interrupts the fantasy, and the son's movements turn from love to violence.
17)
The prince imagines the Queen and young von Rothbart flaunting their growing physical affection for each other.
They join the other guests at the ball to laugh and ridicule him because of his growing distress.
18)
The Queen and young von Rothbart end their dancing with an embrace and passionate kissing.
The prince, in his fury, violently separates them and is rewarded by outrage from both and a slap from his mother.
19)
Overwhelmed by conflicted feelings, the prince produces a pistol and threatens to shoot his mother.
In an ensuing scuffle, the girlfriend tries to dissuade the prince while the Private Secretary draws a pistol and points it at the prince.
20)
As shots ring out, the Girlfriend and the Prince fall to the ground, but only the girlfriend has been hit.
She lies unconscious, and the prince is dragged away while the Queen throws herself into young von Rothbart's arms. He gives the pistol he had taken from the prince to his father and the two laugh.
Act IV
21)
In the final act, the prince, regarded as having lost his mind, is confined to an asylum in a room with a high barred window and is treated by a doctor and a team of nurses wearing masks that resemble the Queen's face, in a scene reminiscent of his dressing at the beginning of the ballet.
The Queen visits but can still not fully express love for her son.
22)
The prince crawls into bed and appears to sleep.
However, he begins writhing as he dreams of the troupe of swans emerging from under and behind, dancing around him.
He wakes from his nightmare, checking under his bed and around his room for swans.
23)
His tortured expression and jerky movements suggest the prince is in turmoil.
His lead swan then slowly emerges from the prince's bed.
The swan dances with the prince, assuring him of his continued affection.
24)
But the other swans turn on the leader when he makes it clear that he values his relationship with the prince more than the swans.
They separate the two and attack the prince before the swan jumps in to save him.
25)
The swan embraces the prince and wraps him in its wings.
The swans' anger grows, and their next attack dismembers the swan, who disappears.
Heartbroken and sad, the prince weeps and collapses on the bed.
26)
The Queen then finds the body of her dead son and breaks down in sobs.
In death, however, the Prince and the Swan are reunited, as shown by a tableau in which the leading swan tenderly holds the young prince in his arms.
//Postscript//
I also like Matthew's new Swan Lake.
Men dancing ballet as swans is new.
However, I somehow feel uncomfortable.
Why couldn't a mother express her affection for her son?
Why did he try to kill himself?
Why did the swan try to save him?
I somehow understand why.
And the original Swan Lake doesn't tell the whole story, either.
Also, in the original book story, there are no demons.
Instead of the devil, the stepmother plays a devilish role.
After her own fairy mother died, her stepmother hated Odette.
Fleeing from her stepmother, she is disguised as a swan and protected by her grandfather's magic.
The ballet Swan Lake is simpler and easier to understand, and the final scene can also have a happy ending.
Yet, there is something about the ballet Swan Lake that makes sense.
Do you think it's the difference between a story that has been danced for a long time and a story with a short history?
Or do you think the original story has a more powerful message?
Swan Lake (Bourne) - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swan_Lake_(Bourne)
Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake
https://greatleapforward.co.uk/matthew-bournes-swan-lake/
Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake 2012
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvMT5MblXX4
Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty - A Gothic Romance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziGUJXb5a34
Movie "Matthew Bourne IN CINEMA / Romeo and Juliet" Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_JcCAuzt0A
[Understand in 5 minutes! 】 Matthew Bourne's "Sleeping Beauty" Commentary on Highlights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAP0wz9SfcI
Making of Matthew Bourne's "Cinderella" No.1 ~A fairy tale under wartime~
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-QLV0wYxkU
Sir Matthew Christopher Bourne OBE (born 1960) is an English choreographer whose work includes contemporary dance and dance theatre.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Bourne
In 2007, Bourne considered a gay version of Romeo and Juliet. Despite the success of his Swan Lake, in which he changed the traditional story of a human male falling in love with a male swan, Bourne acknowledged the challenge of a gay Romeo and Juliet. "It has more to do with dance than sexuality," he said. "A male dancer, gay or straight, is very comfortable in a relationship with a female partner. It's something you're taught, and it fits, it feels right, the lifting and all that stuff. So to get away from that, to make a convincing love duet, a romantic, sexual duet for two men that is comfortable to do and relaxing to watch - I don't know if you can. I've never seen it done.
Digital versions of four of Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, The Carman and Cinderella were released.
https://spice.eplus.jp/articles/269632