The Car Man

The first Matthew Bourne show I saw was Sleeping Beauty. I had expected it to be classical ballet. Needless to say, the quirky neoclassical style took me so much by surprise that I was unable to appreciate the choreographic genius behind it.

Therefore, when a friend asked if I wanted to see "The Car Man" at Sadlers Wells, I was eager to give Bourne's creation a more open-minded viewing. 

Even from the back rows of the second balcony, the stage looked fabulous; the set portrayed a dingy 1960's America town, ironically named 'Harmony'. Interestingly, as the audience entered the theatre, the cast already meandered around the stage in character, which helped us to feel part of the action before the show began.

The piece was set to Bizet's "Carmen", upon which it was based. Unfamiliar with the storyline of Carmen, I found it difficult to follow the action, centred around love, lust and revenge. Nonetheless, Chris Trenfield really stood out as Luca, with excellent musicality and stage presence. Although I haven't done much contemporary work, I found the style very impressive; the dancers' energy and passion radiated right through the huge theatre. 

The scenery in Act 2 initially depicted a club, then switched impressively rapidly to the prison, where Angelo was wrongly imprisoned for killing Dino- when in reality, Luca was Dino's killer, as the latter slept with both Lana (Luca's wife) and Angelo.

The piece culminated in Angelo being shot dead by Lana, expressing the theme of lust and revenge. Although the piece was hard to follow, Bourne's choreographic gift clearly shone.