Matthew Bourne's New Adventures production of Romeo and Juliet heads to Yorkshire

Earlier this week I heard Sir Matthew pop up on the (excellent) News Agents podcast and was pleased to hear him being as uncompromising as ever in his political views, suggesting that MPs and culture ministers ‘don’t particularly seem to do anything cultural or artistic’. Talking about his latest production, Romeo and Juliet, which heads to Yorkshire next week, he’s similarly passionate.

“I had resisted it for many years feeling that Romeo and Juliet had been overdone in recent times; or at least, most ideas had already been explored so it was difficult to come up with something inspiring and original.

"It had been the starting point for versions of the story in many different mediums such as film, musical theatre, opera but was particularly popular with audiences in both ballet and contemporary dance interpretations. Somehow, I knew though, that, one day, that incredible Prokofiev score was destined to be the basis for a New Adventures production,” says Bourne.

New Adventures is the production company he has helmed for well over two decades and which has brought almost all of Bourne’s work to the stage, from the world famous all-male Swan Lake, Car Man and Play Without Words, winning every major theatre award along the way.

As ever, with this new production, getting the story and theatre itself, to young people, is paramount.

“We decided to create a project that focussed in on both young dancers and young creatives working alongside our regular team in all departments. To make this ultimate first love story about young people, listening to what they had to say and to be inspired by their talents and their particular viewpoint. A stripped back Romeo and Juliet for, and about, a new generation.”

Bourne’s particular skill in his field is to create work that truly communicates. His wordless, dance-filled works often feel like they are scripted. You leave feeling you have heard, as well as watched, a story.

“I didn’t completely nail our story until very close to the first performance, keeping my mind and ears open in the room and responding to discussions with the cast and creative team. We are, after all, taking the Shakespeare out of Shakespeare in a dance production. It’s wordless theatre and we are working in a very different, totally visual medium. For me though, the musical score becomes the script or the words. It’s the genius of Prokofiev that guides this story as much as it is Shakespeare’s poetry. Most of the characters and many of the situations and trajectory of the original story are still there in our version but please don’t look for a textbook re-telling of the story.”Bourne’s well deserved knighthood came not least because of just how popular his work is. It’s sometimes a dirty word in the world of dance theatre: ‘popular’, but it is impossible to resist the work of an artist that brings so many new audiences to theatre and to dance in particular.

“For some reason, some people are surprised to see issues like mental health, or homophobia, or abuse portrayed in a dance production. Subjects such as these are regularly explored in film, TV drama and plays but are sometimes seen as more shocking as part of a ballet or dance narrative where fairy tales and sexless love stories are more the norm. It’s true that at times our Romeo and Juliet is not an easy watch, particularly around Juliet’s harrowing story, but I do feel that it's important to face the realities of the story we are telling and its tragic outcome.”

“There is nothing balletically twee about it, that’s for sure. It’s awkward at times, uninhibited, full of the excitement of exploration and discovery Romeo and Juliet can’t keep their hands off each other – fumbling towards that first kiss; and rather than the usual sweet peck on the cheek or lips, we set ourselves the choreographically challenging task of creating the longest ever continuous kiss in dance history. Locked in a moment that neither of them wants to end.”

Alhambra Theatre, Bradford, September 12-16; Sheffield Lyceum, October 3-7.