Having never been to a Matthew Bourne production before I now see what the fuss is all about. Throughout this thrillingly beautiful ballet you could discern his eye for invention.

Performed on some luxurious and magical sets by Tony and Olivier Award-winning designer Lez Brotherston and lit with panache by Paule Constable, this Sleeping Beauty starts and ends in the zone, a theatrical and balletic heaven where imagination, staging, performance and emotion and are all in full flow.

Taking Tchaikovsky’s sweeping score as his script and his blueprint, Bourne has built an extraordinary retelling of this ancient tale that taps into the same vein, if you’ll pardon the pun, as the teenage vampire sensation The Twilight Saga by author Stephanie Meyer. Putting the Gothic into this romance is a masterstroke – it immediately makes for some sumptuous costume opportunities, and laces a predictable love story with a darker and sexier understory. A timely bite will ensure love survives Aurora’s 100-year old sleep!

Bourne has declared that as a choreographer he loves to dip into different eras and styles of dance. Here there were shades of Busby Berkeley in the twirling symmetries of the ensemble dancing, and in the snappy and tense control exhibited by the character of Caradoc, the dark fairy’s son, you could sense a Michael Jackson vibe. In Act Two, set in 1911, there was greater formality to the movement, which gave good contrast to the fevered vampire ‘night club’ scene that followed the interval.

Ashley Shaw performed the role of Princess Aurora. From beginning to end she was a sensation, demonstrating a complete fluidity of movement, holding her line beautifully especially during the difficult sleep sequences when she had to convince with utter limpness, yet retain control.

Adam Maskell filled the stage with the malevolent presence of Carabosse, the dark fairy, fuelled in no small way by Brotherston’s excellent crimson fashioning with black wing accessories. Later transmuting into her embittered and revengeful son Caradoc, Maskell again convinced, stony-faced while making his own frustrated moves on Aurora.

Chris Trenfield played the love-struck Leo, a role he co-created, with great energy and warmth, striking up a believable chemistry with Shaw’s Aurora in the rose adage. There was an especially nice light touch when he hid in Aurora’s bedroom and aped the entrance of the queen, Aurora’s mother, behind her back.

All performers excelled, but Christopher Marney stood out as an excellent King of the Fairies, always in command of the controlled mayhem on stage.

Bourne says he was influenced by each of the subsequent interpretations of Perrault’s original story of 1697. The Brothers Grimm version Little Briar Rose of 1810 and the Disney animated classic from 1959 have both helped him in different ways to unlock a modern take. His ‘Gothic Romance’ ticks all the 21st century boxes – visual and musical feasts, fabulous performances backed with daring and imaginative staging. This is story telling, without words, at its very best. The standing ovation at the end was richly deserved.    ★★★★★    Simon Bishop     2^nd March 2016

Photo by Johan Persson