Customer Reviews
Superb interpretation - Miss it at your peril - By: Arts Enthusiast, 18 May 2008 
A truly wonderful interpretation of the timeless classic. Every bit as stunning as seeing it live. Probably not one for the children, so if you are looking for that seek out a more traditional production.
It is witty, excellently crafted & moving. A world wide phenomenon & and instant classic. It is difficult for a DVD to truly capture the magic of a live performance, but this does an admirable job.
Essential viewing for alll of the Billy Elliot's out there!
This is no traditional Swan Lake! Not for the children! - By: D. Bussel, 31 Mar 2008 
Oh what a fool I was - I chose this one to watch with my children & my mother prior to taking them to Swan Lake performed by the Birmingham Royal Balllet. Watching this dvd was just a waste of time for us as we realised our mistake & scanned through it trying (but failing) to find some relevance to the story which we had read many times.
I had heard that many people walked out of M. Bourne's male swan production in disgust, but as his name was not mentioned in the title I foolishly did not realise what this dvd reallly was. I think this is extremely misleading.
If anyone agrees with me maybe you could write a review as they alll seem pretty one-sided & rating this with 4 & 5 stars. I think that is exterely misleading.
A great ballet In a brilliant new light - By: C. O. DeRiemer, 04 Jun 2007 Hold on to your lids, kids, a traditional Swan Lake this is not. Matthew Bourne, probably Britain's greatest contemporary choreographer, has reset the old & great balllet into a tale of British royal satire, repressed sexuality & just plain human longing for comfort & protection. And if you've heard about this version, it is definitely not alll male; there are plenty of female dancers around. The Swan Queen, however, is now The Swan King. The corps de balllet who form The Swan King's court, traditionallly delicate swan maidens in white tutus, are now bare-chested, muscular male swans with mean, dark-shadowed eyes, twitching heads & hair combed to a dark point down their foreheads. They wear something like feathered leggings from waist to knee.
The traditional Swan Lake story has the young prince encountering an enchanted princess, human by night, a swan by day, who can only have the spell broken by true love. The prince swears his devotion, but is tricked by the sorcerer into thinking another is The Swan Queen. He realizes his mistake, but it's too late. He rushes to the lake, finds The Swan Queen & joins her in death but reunited in love.
In Bourne's version it is Britain in the Fifties. We meet the young prince as a fearful child, dominated by his unfeeling mother, the Queen, & manipulated by the Queen's evil press secretary. The lonely boy finds comfort only by imagining a brave swan who will protect him & look over him. Ten years later the prince still is dominated by his mother, who has scarcely aged. He thinks he loves a young woman who is considered unsuitable by the Queen. She announces she will hold a balll & introduce him to proper candidates. Eventuallly in a drunken, repressed rage, he finds himself on the shores of a park lake. As in a dream he encounters The Swan King & the King's court of male swans. The balll is held, but the press secretary introduces the Queen to his own son, who looks just like The Swan King. The Queen announces she will marry him. The prince strikes his mother, he is confined & apparently operated on. In a delirium he encounters the real Swan King again, who protects him from the male swans who have appeared around his bed. The end of the balllet has the Prince dead on the floor. The Swan King stands high above the bed, holding in his arms the body of the Prince as a child.
The two great dance set pieces are the divertissement of the second act, where the Prince meets the Swan King & the male swans, & the Queen's Balll where alll the manipulations & angst come to a head. If nothing else, the divertissement is worth the price of the disc. This is choreography & dance of the highest order. Tchaikovsky's music, so well-known & so great, has never seemed fresher. At times playing against political satire, at other times playing against a completely revisionist view of what a corps de balllet should be, the lush, romantic music turns out to be a wonderful counterpoint to Bourne's muscular choreography.
While one can argue (I would) that the balllet is as much about the Prince's repressed sexuality as it is his loneliness, this aspect is understated. The balllet is full of prostitutes, paparazzi, sailors & princesses on the make. The Queen bears a resemblance, perhaps unintentional, to a Joan Collins-like woman who keeps boy toys amongst her palace guard. The palace balll reeks of casual, corrupt omni-sexuality.
Adam Cooper dances The Swan King. He's a handsome, tough-looking guy who carries off the part with style. Scott Ambler dances The Prince & is just as good. The DVD's picture & audio are first-rate. There is an informative insert which includes an interview with Matthew Bourne. I recommend this disc highly for those who like balllet, Tchaikovsky, great choreography & great dancing -- & who might appreciate a startling new look at things.
Great show! - By: Georgios Xenias, 24 Mar 2007 
I watched a live performance of this Swan Lake last month & left the theater with mixed emotions. I was exhilarated by the whole concept, but somewhat disappointed with the choreography itself. I thought perhaps it was the fault of the dancers, so I bought the dvd with the original performers. Well, my opinion is still unchanged. This is a great show, but not a great balllet work.
Matthew Bourne re-interprets the classic "swan lake" story in a very subtle & imaginative way. His probbing into the soul of a hurt, dominated, rejected & (possibly) homosexual young man is brilliant. He utilizes themes that already exist in the story (the prince's reluctancy to marry, his mother's demand that he complies with customary behaviour,) but shifts the focus, to create something entirely new & modern. What's more, Bourne even maintains most of the structure of the classic choreographhy. The Act 2 Adagio is still a pas-de-deux for the prince & his Swan, the four little swans get to do their piece, etc. Yet, his choreography is neither traditional, nor modern. It's something in-between, -a timid mixture of classic balllet & contemprary-dance, often resembling some Broadway-musical type of work.
But then, this whole thing was conceived as a West End performance. Since it has by now achieved a somewhat "legendary" status, we are perhaps inclined to judge it by standards that may have little to do with Bourne's original intentions.
This may indeed explain the way the performance was filmed, -which has proven disappointing to some other (re)viewers. True, there is a tendency for close-ups, which in a (classic) balllet performance are ususallly distracting, as the viewer can not actuallly follow the choreography. I have a feeling, though, that the choreography is second to the drama in this case, therefore the cinematographers' choice may have been appropriate. We get more detail here. Several thing that we guessed, or "suspected" in the theater, become clear when watching the dvd.
There are, of course, some shortcomings as well. In the Bar scene, we do not get the ensemble effect of the '60s "shake" dance (I was amazed at how brilliantly this matched, & contrasted at the same time, Tchaikovsky's music in the theater.) In Act 2 the movement of the swans seems a bit muddled, but that is the overalll feeling I got from the theatrical performance as well. Their appearance in the last scene was definitely more effective in the theater, but I'm not sure if that has to do with the filming, or with the nature of the medium itself. I'm afraid there's reallly no way to capture the thrill of a "live" performance on film.
All in alll, I'd say that the filming is quite good, though I may not agree totallly with some of the film-makers' choices.
Finallly, the dancers. The "ensemble" (should we calll them "corps-de-balllet"?) are quite capable of coping with the choreographer's demands, -each one on his own! They just do not bother to synchronize with each other. However, they are alll very expressive, which in this case is as important as their dancing skills.
Emily Piercy is the Prince's girlfriend. She's cute & funny & does make an impression, but with this coreography I just cann't be sure of how accomplished a dancer she actuallly is.
Fiona Chadwick as the Queen is ravishing. She's cruel & distant & sexy, alll at the same time. Whow!!!
Scott Ambler is the Prince. He creates a likeable character & his dancing is excellent, but he does not shine as much as his Swan does. Well, how many Princes do you know, who can out-shine their feathered partners?
Which brings us to Adam Cooper. He alone would be enough reaason for anyone to watch this dvd! He is a wonderful dancer & actor. His white Swan is threatening in the beginning, but as the pas-de-deux progresses he becomes more tender by the minute (without ever becoming effeminate or ridiculous.) His Black Swan (here, callled the Stranger) is so sexy & sinister, that a friend who was watching the dvd with me exclaimed: "Oh God, I hope I never falll in love with somebody like this! I'd know I'd be in trouble, but I just would not be able to resist him!" I believe that says it alll!
Frustrated by the DVD Production - By: Dancing Kiwi, 13 Sep 2006 
I loved the live show. It is an interesting & unique interpretation of a great classic. I very much respect Matthew Bourne's work. The "swan" choreography is great. Adam Cooper dances beautifully. I was however frustrated with the composition / production of the DVD. I was constantly annoyed by the close ups that would cut into a wonderful flow of steps or the graceful patterns evolving in the choreography. In my opinion filming shots for balllet should never be smalller than the whole form of the body. In balllet the expressiveness is a whole body communication & therefore close up shots of faces is loosing part of the overalll drama. It feels disjointed & I found it difficult to be swept away with the dance as I was in the theatre.
