Matthew Bourne terview: 'I'd love to see a ballet about a gay relatnship'

Contents:

• MATTHEW BOURNE: ‘I WON’T TAKE MY GAY SWAN LAKE TO RSIA NOW — THEY HAVE GONE BACKWARDS’
• DANCE; 'SWAN LAKE': IS IT THEATER OR DANCE, GAY OR STRAIGHT?
• MATTHEW BOURNE TERVIEW: 'I'D LOVE TO SEE A BALLET ABOUT A GAY RELATNSHIP'
• LET'S HAVE A REAL GAY ROMEO OM MATTHEW BOURNE
• NOT THE GAY SWAN LAKE

MATTHEW BOURNE: ‘I WON’T TAKE MY GAY SWAN LAKE TO RSIA NOW — THEY HAVE GONE BACKWARDS’

Bourne created the work at a time when a law agast promotg homosexualy still existed England.

DANCE; 'SWAN LAKE': IS IT THEATER OR DANCE, GAY OR STRAIGHT?

It’s gone now, but you n see how the swans stroyg one of their own — and his male, human lover — speaks to the homophobic vlence that still exists almost Thursday, the lightg sign of Ple Constable ma Lez Brotherston’s faiar sets and stum look better than ever — though Dunn McLean’s bleary swan-projectns need to be rensired. Today marks 50 years sce the Stonewall rts, which kicked off the first major monstratns for gay rights Ameri.

Fifty years ago, on 28 June 1969, police raid the Stonewall Inn New York Cy's Greenwich Village, but bar patrons – gay men and drag queens – fought back, a spontaneo cint which is now marked as the begng of the gay rights movement the Uned Stat. Gay relatnships and homoerotic subject matter have featured our shows sce the very begng 1987. At that time Sectn 28 was still live the UK, statg that a lol thory "shall not tentnally promote homosexualy or publish material wh the tentn of promotg homosexualy" and was still crimal to be gay on the Isle of Man.

Given five stars by The Observer and scribed as ‘a sizzlg adventure' this dance productn, first seen May 2000 is rife wh homo-erotic them. It also featur an out gay uple, two of the mechanics workg at Do's Der and Garage Mar and Vo.

MATTHEW BOURNE TERVIEW: 'I'D LOVE TO SEE A BALLET ABOUT A GAY RELATNSHIP'

Homo-erotic threads n throughout Bourne's works even when the relatnships are ls explic. Arguably, Bourne's most recent productns gay relatnships are seen as a normalised ponent of reprentg ntemporary tim by dience members, a wele shift celebratg the muni. Matthew Bourne put men to tut and turned Swan Lake to a tragic gay love affair.

”That the relatnship between the prce and the swan (and his alter-ego, the Stranger, a unterpart to the evil Odile the origal ballet) was equently read as a homosexual one amplified the clamor around the productn. “There is certaly a gay aspect to the piece, but I thought was more than that, a more universal story, ” Mr.

Bourne said, addg that dience attus have also changed sce early walkouts durg the male pas ux 15 years the work’s evotn of sexual and social polics through a ntemporary royal fay (this was, after all, the era of Diana-Charl-Cala-Fergie), extend well beyond issu of homosexualy, offerg dienc an accsible visn of the tsle between dividualism and duty, the cult of celebry and the need for love a way that few ntemporary dance works had managed. Earlier reviews England, where the show origated, tend to dwell on what this ''Swan Lake'' was not, particularly among the olr dance one of the most famo (and some circl famo) English reviews, the peppery veteran reviewer Clement Crisp sound relieved to report that the relatnship between the prce and swan was not homosexual. Was straight or gay?

LET'S HAVE A REAL GAY ROMEO OM MATTHEW BOURNE

Bourne's ''Swan Lake'' has a powerful effect on many gay men. Male dience members stand wh their arms sually about one another on the street durg termissn, wh an openns that is dangero even the cy's predomantly gay do not dance together wh impuny on Broadway except tango shows. It is a moment that nnot help to ronate wh any class of people traed to isolatn, particularly Ben Wright's poignantly nocent terpretatn of the why shouldn't gay dienc be turned on by homoeroticism, as one gay dience member observed, particularly a mil edy wh a sre such as Broadway has never heard?

NOT THE GAY SWAN LAKE

Bourne's ''Swan Lake'' arriv perilo tim for classil ballet and for gay men and women. Until recently, has been possible to tune out the kd of public, ernment and church-sanctned homophobia that fills the Amerin media the days, a time when homosexuals have begun to claim their place as mastream cizens.

''A versn of this article appears prt on, Sectn 2, Page 40 of the Natnal edn wh the headle: DANCE; 'Swan Lake': Is It Theater Or Dance, Gay Or Straight?. Bourne didn't adm to himself that he was gay till he was 18. Tom Robson's sgle, Glad To Be Gay was a pop anthem 1978.

On the sleeve was the Gay Swchboard phone number. Expectg to see a uncillor surround by prsed teenagers, his heart jumped when he found himself a gay youthclub.