A few hebdomad ago , Matthew Bourne ’s Sleeping Beauty : A Gothic Romance cease its tour in Los Angeles , California . Much has been made of the way the well - known story was changed , but what was really striking was that the ballet actually palpate like the natural collision of two of the swelled trends of the last decennium : vampires and re - opine fagot tales .
Let ’s get this out of the way at the first : this thing was beautiful . The sets and costume were gilded and gorgeously detailed . If , like me , terpsichore is n’t your strongest knowledge exercise set , a show this gorgeous will carry you through on the visuals alone .
The plot is n’t exactly Sleeping Beauty as either Disney or the original concert dance has done it . First , the history ’s beginning is prompt forward to 1890 , with Aurora ’s sleep beginning in 1911 . So her one - hundred - year eternal sleep does n’t terminate in the past , but just a few years ago . secondly , the spike ’s been supervene upon with the prick of a rose ’s thorn . Third , instead of being woken by a random prince , Aurora ’s suitor is a hunter refer Leo . The two of them were in love before the bane take in appreciation of her , so he ’s pretty much just wait it out .
And then there are the vampire . believe about what you know about the storey of Sleeping Beauty , and explore and replace “ fairy ” with “ vampire . ” Where the original ballet used Aurora as a sort of proxy battle between the good Lilac Fairy and the evil Carabosse , this one does that with the good Count Lilac and the evil Caradoc ( son of Carabosse , who drop dead wing after cursing Aurora . Mother and son are play by the same somebody ) . And they ’re vampires .
The prelude is an endless sequence with a creepy-crawly baby puppet Aurora gamboling all over the place , followed by a great sequence with the good vampire bestowing their gifts on Aurora and Carabosse cursing the child . Act 1 establishes Aurora as a princess unhappy with rigid formalities and Leo as her love interest group . And then Caradoc usher up at her natal day party , and he ’s pretty much every “ malign seductive vampire ” trope usable . He give a rose to Aurora , and she slips into her 100 - year sleep . This is obviously upsetting to Leo , and also to Count Lilac , who step in to facilitate .
By turning Leo into a lamia , too .
I ’d almost commend not knowing that the good fairies are also vampire run low in , because any vampire subtext becomes textbook right before intermission , when Count Lilac turns Leo into a vampire . My audience split into laugh when the teeth came out . And when you come back from suspension , it ’s present daylight , and Leo the vampire ’s been camp down out of doors of Aurora ’s rook this intact time .
Leo battles through the thicket to get to the castle . Meanwhile , Caradoc ’s been “ guard ” Aurora ’s sleeping form , and he ’s become becharm with her . So he lets Leo arouse her , and then he leaves with the wakened Aurora to make her his bride . So Count Lilac and Leo infiltrate Caradoc ’s vampire rave to get her back . They do , and Vampire Leo , Vampire Aurora , and their new vampire baby live on happily ever after .
Modern day lamia rave scene set to Tchaikovsky ? Check that off the pail listing .
These days , terpsichore public presentation like this do n’t drive tonic culture . And this whole thing really feel like daddy culture drive dance . Like , if you went to see this , and then catch Once Upon a Time / Hansel and Gretel : Witch Hunters / Snow White and the Huntsman and NBC ’s Dracula / True Blood / Twilight , this ballet would fit mighty in . It ’s beat a raft of the hallmarks of the recent glut of fairy tale re - imaginings and vampire tales , but set to Tchaikovsky .
From the “ new ” fairy tale movement , this ballet ’s tried to give its princess more personality and agency . It ’s also done away with the mind of a random prince happening to be her straight love , and or else made it someone she already screw . Leo ’s identity element as a hunter also brings a tinge of a social class divide into it . Caradoc ’s a more interesting scoundrel , since he ’s drive by his desire to complete his female parent ’s revenge . But in the cognitive process , he produce an unhealthful compulsion with Aurora . These days , it ’s all about the nuanced villain . And then there ’s the bringing it into the present solar day . All these little modern - y touches give the news report some needed profundity .
Which is more often than not the idea behind the “ re - imagined fairy fib , ” making the thing work well for modern tastes and psychological science . Of the two trends this concert dance embodies , it embodies this one better .
On the one hand , it ’s less successful in making lamia mesh with this world . It really feel like a gimmick , one which is nice to search at and shocks laughter out of the audience , but a gimmick . Part of it ’s that the account is still catch some Z’s Beauty , so the vampires have to do the things that the fairies in the story do . They have to set curses and bestow magic gifts , which are n’t really vampire thing . Caradoc ’s puzzle a dearest of black , red , and sex which is very “ Halloween Vampire ” of him . But beyond that , and their fangs , the vampires in the concert dance are n’t that lamia - like . On the other hand , that ’s actually completely meet with the latest daily round of vampire - manic disorder .
Vampires have been constantly reinterpreted . Caradoc and Jonathan Rhys Meyers ’ Dracula could all cousins , as bonkers as their young preferences and secret plan are to the classic estimate . The evil vampires in the concert dance and Twilight ’s Volturi appear to be shopping at the same stores . And a schism between vampire faction ? Good and tough ? Yeah , that ’s in Twilight , dead on target Blood , and The Originals , just to name a few .
These ones have wings and black lines across their eyes . Why ? Because .
While the change plot degree work best than the inclusion of vampire , Caradoc and Count Lilac are by far the best characters . Aurora and Leo are okay ( Aurora , in particular , is very expressive ) , but there ’s something agency more interesting about Caradoc and Lilac . Caradoc , as talk over above , has complex need . Meanwhile , Lilac moves through the whole affair like a chessmaster . He basically steer everyone into the right place for him to take out Caradoc . Sleeping Beauty as a procurator vampire war is actually very interesting , and the two main vampires are great .
These kinds of performances are more experience than they are anything else . It ’s the moment where dada culture trends grow too big to not finally clash , and run out of sensitive to take over . I , for one , bet frontwards to seeing the superhero / zombie edition of La Traviata that ’ll lead when those two style ultimately bang into each other .
Pictures from theofficial sitefor Matthew Bourne ’s Sleeping Beauty : A Gothic Romance .
performanceSleeping BeautyVampires
Daily Newsletter
Get the good technical school , scientific discipline , and culture newsworthiness in your inbox day by day .
News from the hereafter , delivered to your present tense .
You May Also Like
