Matthew Bourne's Highland Fling
(aka Løvenskjold : La Sylphide)
Scottish Ballet
Orchestra of Scottish Ballet
Richard Honner
The programme notes for this production described this show as "La Sylphide for the Trainspotting generation", which really sums it up just about perfectly. In one of his characteristically bold re-thinkings of an old, familiar classic, Matthew Bourne transposes the Romantic era Scottish Highlands to 1990s urban Glasgow, where a young man hopped out on drugs and alcohol on the eve of his wedding has a vision of an eldritch creature that he pursues blindly to his death.
As usual with Bourne, whatever reservations one might have about the transposition, or the strength of the actual choreography, it's still a good evening's entertainment. The juxtaposition of the modern urban setting (very heavy on the tartan!) with the stolidly mid-Romantic orchestral score is a little unsettling, but it passes, particularly with the Scottish Ballet Orchestra's enthusiastic playing - not always precise, but sympathetic and nicely paced. The sound world is expanded by interjections of sound effects (spooky wind noises, twittering birds etc.), and scene-framing insertions of popular Scottish music, the kind of thing you might hear at a ceilidh or a Hogmanay party.
When Bourne created the piece, he had only seven dancers at his disposal. The result is a much clearer focus on the 'real' characters, who are well defined. Rather than the dreamy poetic type out of place in his Highland croft, this James (Christopher Harrison) is a big, handsome lug, not too bright. Effie (Katie Webb) actually has a personality here, a nice, practical girl. Madge (Brenda Lee Grech) remains a dark presence, sullenly jealous, and also James's dealer. At this stage, the Sylph herself is a whey-faced, bleary-eyed, raggedy creature, her hair twisted up in papers, waif-like and capricious, Sophie Martin, excellent during the first act. The problem came in the second act , when James meets up with the group of Sylphs, who all looked alike, and Martin sort of disappeared into the crowd, rather than remaining a distinctive solo figure.
It was interesting to see a Bourne ballet in the hands of another company than his own. Scottish Ballet do not look like New Adventures. In one sense their movement is more mannered, but they present a more homogeneous appearance, probably because all the dancers here share the same training, whereas Bourne's dancers, though they probably all began at ballet school, have often followed other dance disciplines as well. Given Bourne's strength in group dances, the greater precision shown here is an advantage, although it's a less 'natural' look than New Adventures favours.
The result of Bourne's re-working is that Act 1 is more interesting than Act 2. By Act 2, James is dead, having jumped out the window of his tenement flat in hazed pursuit of the Sylph. However, there's no 'reveal' in Act 2, James has no more awareness now than he did in the first act. There's a certain amount of wit and poetry in these trashland sylphs, but I felt that the story, even though it still plays out, had lost a sense of purpose. Still, Bourne's inventiveness is alway intriguing, and his shows make for an enjoyable night out.
[Next: 12th May]
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