Full Casting Announced for Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake
Broadway Entertainment Group in association with New Adventures are pleased to announce full casting for MATTHEW BOURNE’S multi award-winning hit SWAN LAKE. The show returns to Sadler’s Wells for an eight week season this Christmas from Wednesday 4 December 2013 – Sunday 26 January 2014, as well as touring extensively throughout the UK. SWAN LAKE not only marks the 12th consecutive Christmas season for a Matthew Bourne production at Sadler’s Wells, but also the show’s seventh London season.
Returning to the iconic role of The Swan are two powerful leading men, Jonathan Ollivier and Chris Trenfield (from 14 January 2014) who have both made the role of The Swan their own. Jonathan Ollivier, a former star of Northern Ballet Theatre, was last seen as the mysterious Speight in New Adventures’ Play Without Words, and recently with Michael Clark. Chris Trenfield is currently starring as Leo in Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty and will join the Swan Lake company on his return from the USA tour of that production in December. He has also played leading roles in New Adventures’ Play Without Words and Nutcracker!
The challenging role of The Prince will be played by Simon Williams, Sam Archer and, making his debut in the role, Liam Mower (from 14 January 2014). Simon remains the only artist to have ever played both The Prince and The Swan in this production, and he will be doing the same again in this revival. He has just completed 12 years with Michael Clark Company, and also has a long history with New Adventures in Nutcracker!, The Car Man, and Matthew Bourne’s Christmas for Channel 4. Sam Archer has been a New Adventures leading man for over 10 years, creating the role of Edward Scissorhands, as well as leading roles in The Car Man, Play Without Words and Cinderella. Liam Mower, recently seen in Sleeping Beauty in his first Principal role as Count Lilac, was the original Olivier award-winning star of the West End’s Billy Elliot. He joined New Adventures in 2011, and, following Sleeping Beauty, will be joining this production in January 2014.
The Queen will be portrayed by three of New Adventures most popular leading ladies, Madelaine Brennan, Saranne Curtin and making her debut in this role, Michela Meazza. Madelaine Brennan was last seen in this production playing, The Girlfriend. A role that she subsequently played in the 2011 3D Film for SKY Arts. She has played a wide variety of roles in New Adventures productions from Cinderella to Edward Scissorhands and Nutcracker!. Saranne Curtin is one of the most important dancers ever to have worked with New Adventures, having created the leading roles of Lana in The Car Man, Sugar in the 2012 revival and 2013 film of Nutcracker! and Glenda in Play Without Words. She was in the original cast of Swan Lake (as The Italian Princess) and comes out of retirement to once again play The Queen, a role for which she received much praise in several UK and International tours of this production. Michela Meazza, a recent nominee for the outstanding female dancer at the National Dance Awards, will be making her debut in this role. Michela is one of New Adventures foremost dancer/actors, having created the roles of Lady H in Dorian Gray and Joyce in Edward Scissorhands as well as leading roles in Play Without Words (original cast), The Car Man, Nutcracker! and Cinderella.
The popular role of The Girlfriend will be played by Anjali Mehra, Kerry Biggin and Carrie Johnson. Anjeli Mehra was last seen in New Adventures’ Play Without Words and will also be dancing the role of The Queen during this revival. Kerry is one of New Adventures most experienced and versatile performers, having created the role of Kim in Edward Scissorhands and has starred in every Bourne production of the last 10 years. Carrie Johnson was last seen in Nutcracker! in 2011/12 and will also be seen as The Moth Maiden and French Princess in this revival.
Rejoining the New Adventures Company for this revival are Tom Clark, Glenn Graham, Tim Hodges, Jack Jones, Katrina Lyndon, Jamie-Emma McDonald and Paul Smethurst.
Making their Debut with New Adventures are Chris Agius Darmanin , Michael Barnes, Stephanie Billers, Cordelia Braithwaite, Otis-Cameron Carr, Nicole Cato, Emma Chadwick, Harry Clark, Tom Cummings, Iván Delgardo del Río, Freya Field, Robin Gladwin, Chantelle Gotobed, PJ Hurst, Luke Jackson, Graham Kotowich, Andy Macleman, Edd Mitton, Kyle Murray and Ashley-Jordon Packer.
Making their professional debut in this production are Tom Broderick, Reece Haydn Causton and Andrew Monaghan (all from Central School of Ballet).
Matthew Bourne says “The New Adventures Sleeping Beauty tour of the USA this Autumn has meant that we have been able to offer a substantial number of new contracts for our latest revival of Swan Lake. We are delighted to welcome 23 new company members, joining us from diverse dance backgrounds including Rambert Dance Company, Northern Ballet Theatre, Phoenix Dance Company, Michael Clark, BBC’s “So You Think You Can Dance” and the West End. The quality of this Swan Lake company is testament to how far New Adventures and our Swan Lake has come in the eighteen years since its first performance, and the Box Office records already being broken on our upcoming UK tour is proof, if proof were needed, of the British public’s continuing fascination for this much-loved production”
Premiering at Sadler’s Wells in 1995, Matthew Bourne’s triumphant modern re-interpretation of Swan Lake turned tradition upside down, taking the dance world by storm. Matthew Bourne blends dance, humour and spectacle with extravagant, award-winning designs by Lez Brotherston, to create a provocative and powerful Swan Lake for our times. Now firmly crowned as a modern-day classic, this iconic production is perhaps best-known for replacing the traditional female corps de ballet with a menacing male ensemble.
Collecting over 30 international theatre awards including three Tony Awards, MATTHEW BOURNE’S SWAN LAKE has been acclaimed as a landmark achievement on the international stage. It has become the longest running ballet in the West End and Broadway and enjoyed five successful tours in the UK and thrilled audiences all over the world.
MATTHEW BOURNE’S SWAN LAKE is directed and choreographed by Matthew Bourne with Set and Costume Design by Lez Brotherston and Lighting Design by Rick Fisher.
MATTHEW BOURNE
Matthew Bourne is widely hailed as the UK’s most popular and successful choreographer/ director. He is the creator of the world’s longest running ballet production (Swan Lake), a five-time Olivier Award winner, and the only British director to have won Tony Awards for both Best Choreographer and Best Director of a Musical. Matthew Bourne has been the Artistic Director of New Adventures (formally Adventures in Motion Pictures) since 1987. During those 25 years he has created new audiences for dance with groundbreaking work both at home and internationally, including Nutcracker!, Swan Lake, Cinderella, The Car Man, Play Without Words, Edward Scissorhands, Dorian Gray and Sleeping Beauty.
Bourne has also choreographed several major revivals of classic musicals, including Cameron Mackintosh’s productions of Oliver! (1994 and 2009) and My Fair Lady (2002). In 2004 Bourne co-directed (with Richard Eyre) and choreographed (with Stephen Mear) the West End and Broadway hit, Mary Poppins. Matthew Bourne has twice been nominated as Best Director at the Olivier Awards and his achievements in choreography have been recognized with over 50 international awards including The Evening Standard Award, South Bank Show Award, Time Out Award and the Astaire Award for Dance on Broadway. In the 2001 New Years Honours, Matthew was awarded an OBE for Services to Dance from HM The Queen and in 2003 he was the recipient of the prestigious Hamburg Shakespeare Prize for the Arts. In 2010 he was the first recipient of The British Inspiration Award. Bourne is a Resident Artist at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London, where New Adventures was invited to be Resident Company in 2006.
BROADWAY ENTERTAINMENT GROUP
Broadway Entertainment Group is a pioneering production company and service provider to the entertainment industry in the emerging markets of South and Central Asia, Middle East and Latin America, promoting global outsourcing and distribution via a contracted network of venues.
NEW ADVENTURES
New Adventures is the UK’s most in demand contemporary Dance/Theatre touring company. Under the inspired leadership of Artistic Director, Matthew Bourne, it has, over the last 25 years, changed the landscape of British dance with an award-winning repertory of works that have brought unprecedented new audiences to theatres throughout the UK and internationally. Matthew Bourne and his team of world-class collaborators have consistently produced some of the most successful dance productions ever staged. Since its formation in 2002, New Adventures has created an enviable repertory of acclaimed new works (Play Without Words, Edward Scissorhands, Dorian Gray, Lord Of The Flies and Sleeping Beauty) as well as new productions of popular favourites from Matthew Bourne’s former company, Adventures In Motion Pictures (1987-2002) – Nutcracker!, Swan Lake, Highland Fling, The Car Man, Cinderella and the mixed programme Early Adventures. The Company regularly employs over 60 dancers annually, and they are widely recognised as the finest group of actor/dancers working in the UK today. New Adventures is proud to be Resident Company at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London where it regularly performs record-breaking extended seasons. The company annually undertakes extensive country-wide touring, appearing at more venues and giving more performances each year than any other UK dance company. British dance’s biggest export for over 10 years, New Adventures has performed seasons at the world’s most iconic venues (Sydney Opera House, New York City Center, The Chatalet in Paris, The Kennedy Center, Washington and The Moscow Arts Theatre) the most prestigious Festivals (Edinburgh, Ravenna and Chekhov International Festivals) and regularly tours to Japan, the USA, Australia, Europe and Russia. Mixing popular appeal with a groundbreaking and unique theatrical language, New Adventures is one of the great success stories of British Theatre. The Company has notched up a staggering ten Olivier nominations for its productions, has won the Manchester Evening News Dance Award five times and was given a Special TMA award for its commitment to national touring. Last year’s 25th Anniversary celebration saw the company performing six diverse works at 32 UK venues. This culminated in the World Premiere of Matthew Bourne’s latest hit production of Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty in October 2012.
Content updated 7th October 2014
