Stars: Adam Cooper, Scott Ambler, Fiona Chadwick

Director: Matthew Bourne

Summary: An alternate version of Tchaikovsky's ballet with a male majority in the Corps De Ballet. Filmed at the Royalty Theatre in April 1996.

The provocative and critically acclaimed all-male version of Tchaikovsky's ballet, directed and choreographed by Matthew Bourne and performed by the innovative British dance company Adventures in Motion Pictures.

WIN DVDs by rating this DVD

Average User Rating:

WIN DVDS by being amongst the first to review this DVD. Reviewing DVDs earns you bonus entries and lets you WIN DVDs!Please login before reviewing this DVD. If you're a new user, register for free and enter to WIN FREE DVDs!

This Swan Lakewas the unexpected popular hit of 1996, when radical choreographer Matthew Bourne took Tchaikovsky's traditional ballet by the scruff of the neck and reworked it with a myriad of modern influences and themes to astonishing effect. Seldom have the dark psychological riptides at the heart of so many classical ballets been so brilliantly exposed. The Prince (Scott Ambler) is a wretched and dissolute young man dominated by his mother, the Joan Collins-like Queen (Fiona Ambler). Shades of Tennessee Williams, indeed. Von Rothbart becomes a press secretary, more sinister éminence grisethan hissable villain. Most startling of all, The Swan (Adam Cooper) is a muscular, emphatically masculine male.

Bourne has stressed the universality of his interpretation, which proved such a success for his Adventures in Motion Pictures dance company. And indeed this is never an overtly "gay" Swan Lake, although the electricity of the pas de deuxat the height of Act 2 delivers a palpably homoerotic charge. Its universal threads--as Bourne suggests, the need to be held and understood is common to us all--are synthesised in the utterly moving conclusion as the Swan cradles the lifeless Prince and raises him to a better place. Swan Lakebecomes a human, rather than simply romantic, tragedy.

On the DVD:Swan Lakeis presented in full screen 4:3 video format and this version would certainly have benefited from widescreen to show off the dazzling court and night club scenes as well as the lake and the impact of the all-male swan corps de ballet. But the lush Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound serves the rich interpretation of Tchaikovsky's score from The New London Orchestra to handkerchief-wringing effect. Extras include menu-driven resumes and a synopsis. --Piers Ford

Aspect Ratio:	4:3 Full Frame
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Booklet
Year:	1996
Release Date:	October 5, 1998
Runtime:	117 minutes
Certification:	Exempt.
Catalogue Number:	0630 15899 2
Keywords:	Music, Ballet, Bourne, Lake, Dance, Works, Stage, Swan, Matthew, Classical, Performing, Arts, Tchaikovsky's
Genre:	Music/Performing Arts