Matthew Bourne’s Cinderella – New Adventures/Sadler’s Wells, London
This production seems to be pitched as the thing to see when you don’t want to see the Nutcracker (or have left it too late to get tickets), and it was in this mindset that I came to see it having, you guessed it, left it too late to get tickets for the Nutcracker. First staged in 1997, this version of Prokofiev’s ballet of Cinderella is set in London in 1940, during the Blitz, with all of the scope for chance encounters, missed opportunities and potential heartache that this entails.
Most striking to me was Lez Brotherston’s designs: glamorous in a monochrome way that references black and white film, and clever sets which transport the audience into different scenes in wartime London. The Embankment set is particularly good. While we’re on the positives, the dancing is also excellent, as is to be expected. Ashley Shaw as Cinderella and Andrew Monaghan as the prince (a pilot in this version) are expressive and endearing, although my favourite was the wicked stepmother, played by Michela Meazza. Her costumes were also wonderful, including a shoe as a hat in later scenes which is inspired. The audience favourite was the fairy godmother character, in this production an all-in-white angel played by Liam Mower, who was indeed very impressive. Perhaps this shows my lack of education when it comes to ballet, but the parts that stood out to me tended to be the light-hearted or humourous touches rather than the showier ensemble pieces: a touching pas de deux between Cinderella and a mannequin, for example.
Turning to what I didn’t think worked as well, I have to say first of all that I got a bit lost in the narrative at times. Why is she suddenly having flashbacks? Is her family all dead now? Why is she blonde? I had worked it out by the end, but there were definitely times I was just watching the dancing and waiting for it to make sense. I thought the shoe fetishism was a bit odd, as was the pilot’s dalliance with a prostitute. My reaction to both was something along the lines of ‘Ok fine, but why?’.
Overall, however, it was a good night out, a polished production, some high-calibre performances and a nice introduction to Sadler’s Wells for someone who has long thought it’s the kind of place they want to like, but hadn’t managed to find any performances they actually wanted to see. With more Matthew Bourne productions coming up, it seems like a New Adventure I would be willing to explore (pun intended).
