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The Ballet has proved enormously successful, with touring companies playing to sold-out houses around the World , and it has won a string of prestigious awards. The ballet was called "a miracle" in a Time Out New York Review. However, Matthew Bourne's ''Swan Lake'' has also been rebuked by some who resent changes to the standard Russian classic or who find certain sequences facetious and gratuitous. SYNOPSIS The Plot of the ballet revolves around a young Crown Prince , his distant Mother , and his desire for freedom, represented by a beautiful Swan . Act One In Scene One, the Prince is woken in his bed by a giant swan beating against the windowpane. The symbolism is comparable to that found in the Batman tale, where a young man is terrified by an animal that will later become an obsession for him. The prince's mother comes in to comfort him, but becomes nervous with the intimacy of the situation and leaves, looking over her shoulder indecisively. Scene Two opens with the Prince being prepared for a day of official duties by a small army of chambermaids and valets. Arrayed in his Full Dress Uniform , the Prince sets out to be bored by a Boat Christening , a Ribbon Cutting , and other symoblic tasks. His mother prods him to keep up appearances while giving most of her attention to handsome young soldiers. The Prince is introduced to a gawkish girl called "the Girlfriend". Although the girl seems foisted on him by the Queen's Private Secretary , the Prince enjoys her freshness as an alternative to his duty-bound life. The Queen finds the Girlfriend completely inappropriate. In Scene Three, the Queen, one of her admiring soldiers, the Private Secretary, the Prince, and the Girlfriend all appear in a Theatre Box , where they watch a ballet that is staged for the actual audience as well for as the characters. It is a mawkish, Campy send-up of a romantic ballet, in which a Fairy princess fights off tree Goblins and wins the love of a Tyrolean Lumberjack . The ballet's spectacular backdrop (from a design for Falkenstein castle by Christian Jank ), vacuously ornate costumes, and Melodramatic acting poke fun at the romantic ballets of which the original ''Swan Lake'' was a core example. The Girlfriend's outré responses to the dance, and her eventual dropping of her handbag from the royal box, annoy the Queen and the Private Secretary. Scene Four finds the disgruntled Prince drinking in his private chambers, to the shock of his mother. A nearly violent Pas De Deux ensues in which he demands her attention and Love , and she determinedly rebukes him. This rebuke sends the prince into the streets and to a Seventies Style disco in Scenes Five and Six. Here is where the Choreography most obviously veers from classical ballet, with Jazz forms and Modern Dance dominating. The prince seeks love from strangers, who also rebuke him. In '''Scene Seven''', he sees the Girlfriend being paid off by the Private Secretary to disappear. Act Two Disappointed that he will never find affection, the prince contemplates Suicide in Act Two, but is saved by the sight of beautiful swans on the lake of a public Park . This act is the most direct rendering from the original plot of ''Swan Lake'', but it contains the most talked-about dancing of the ballet due to stylistic changes. Male dancers portray the swans as aggressive and arrogant animals rather than the delicate, sentimentalized swans traditionally portrayed by ballerinas. The Traditional white tutus and tiaras are also discarded, to be replaced with bare chests and bold, black facial markings. The animal-like authenticity of the swans can be compared to the celebrated catlike movement by the corps of the pop opera Cats . Originally rebuked by the lead swan, the prince is eventually taken into the loving embrace he has always desired, and ends the act in triumphant Happiness . Act Three Scene One begins with princesses from various European nations and their escorts arriving at the Palace gates. The Girlfriend sneaks in amongst them. Scene Two takes place in a Proto-fascist ballroom where gigantic torchieres recall those of Jean Cocteau's Belle Et Le Bête . A Ball commences upon the arrival of the Queen and the Prince, but quickly degrades into a debauched party of drinking and lascivious come-ons. Into this arrives a Stranger in leather pants, who degrades the scene even further by rubbing against or licking every woman present, including the Queen. Just as one ballerina performs the white Odette and the black Odile in the original ''Swan Lake'', the same Danseur performs the white Swan and the black Stranger in this version. The Prince sees something of his beloved Swan in the Stranger and he is as attracted to the Stranger's bravado as he is repulsed by the Stranger's lewdness. Bump And Grind group numbers, Fight Scenes , and an incronguously festive Spanish Dance climax in a pas de deux, during which the prince is driven mad by his mixed feelings for the Stranger. The Prince produces a pistol and a scuffle ensues, during which both the Girlfriend and the Prince are shot, to the flash of reporter's cameras. Act Four The final act of Matthew Bourne's ''Swan Lake'' sees the Prince's life saved by a Surgeon and a team of nurses, in a scene reminiscent of his dressing at the beginning of the ballet. Again, the Queen is unable to fully express love for her son. Back in his bedroom, the Prince faces the troupe of swans, who now emerge from under, behind, and within his Bed . The group turns on the lead Swan when he makes it clear that he values his relationship with the Prince more than he values membership amongst them. Despite a valiant fight, both the lead Swan and the Prince are torn apart by the jealous brood. The Queen finds her dead son's body and breaks down in sobs, while the Prince and the Swan embrace in tableaux above. POLITICS Much has been made of Matthew Bourne's decision to cast Men as the Swans . The original ballet is a standard in the European tradition of romanticized female-male love. The Heroine , the swan princess Odette, is portrayed as powerless but lovely in accordance with conventional Gender Roles , and her Hero is portrayed as a hunter who alone has the power to save her. Having a man in the role of lead Swan puts Love Between Men at center stage, and the naturalistic Choreography given to the swan corps discredits the Archetype of the swan as a pretty, feminine bird of gentle grace. However, central themes carry through both works. Both are about doomed, Forbidden Love , and both feature a Prince who wishes to transcend the boundaries of everyday Convention through that love. Both themes have strong ties to the actual life of Tchaikovsky , the ballet's composer. Because it was produced in the United Kingdom , where the royal family has suffered Media scandals in recent decades, this ballet is also sometimes viewed as a commentary on them. The thwarted Prince is generically royal in tone, but he has been likened by some to Charles, Prince Of Wales , who suffered an Arranged Marriage before being allowed to marry his true love, and Prince Edward, Earl Of Essex , who is widely believed to be primarily attracted to men, despite repeated denials. The Prince and Queen characters in the ballet are certainly royalty in the pampered and remote mold sometimes portrayed by Republicans , rather than the mold of dedicated civil servants portrayed by Royalists . Despite this, performers from the ballet were invited to dance excerpts at a Royal Variety Performance, and the director, Matthew Bourne , has been invited to lunch at Buckingham Palace . AWARDS
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