On Tuesday 25th February 2025 I attended a performance of Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake at the Liverpool Empire. This was the opening night of the performance of Swan Lake at the Empire and the show runs till the 1st March 2025, so you’ve still time to go check it out if you wish to. My quick review is thus: If you like Ballet and have heard of Matthew Bourne.. Go see it, you won’t be disappointed.. Now, lets get into it a little deeper.

We were sat on row J which at the Empire is the ‘legroom row’, the first row of the stalls rear section. It’s on the flat and with the walkway in front of it, there are no legroom issues once the audience has sat down. Unfortunately it doesn’t change the width of the seats, which are for us, still a snug affair. But the view from this row normally is, and was unobstructed. These are decent seats and we’ve sat on this row a few times before. Granted the viewpoint is a little skewed as you are off towards one side or the other, but the difference between these seats and the centre of the legroom row is around £45 per ticket, meaning our tickets would have cost £90 each. – I am sorry, but I won’t pay £90 even for a london theatre ticket, not when there are views around for seats that offer the same experience from nearby.

The set design for Swan Lake was both simple and involved or interactive. It starts and ends with a bedroom scene that is performed behind a screen. When it started I have to admit, I thought my vision was failing me, as things were not so clear… then the screen raised. This has been a design choice for some reason, thankfully when raised, my vision returned to normal. I think this screen might have had something to do with the projection that was shown above the bed, and behind the on-stage window. The design of the other scene’s kept the theme solid, modern but based in tradition, with the ‘stage-on-a-stage’ type design for the sections were the Queen and her guests are watching the dancing themselves and later on a club scene with a doorway to the seedy bar shown with the dancefloor of the club shown alongside again behind some kind of screen. The sets were simple yet effective and together with the lighting and sound design, they helped to tell and move along the story of Swan Lake itself.

This was a traditional, classic ballet in its purest form, zero dialogue throughout. So the telling of the story was very much driven by the musical accompaniment. However, unfortunately for some reason, Bourne has for this production decided to use a pre-recorded version of Tchaikovsky’s score. Some pieces have been reordered to suit Bourne’s pacing and others have been removed completely. Since 1995 when Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake made its UK debut at Saddlers Wells has become something of an obsession for Bourne who has over the years made many a change, both to the score and it’s usefulness to lead the story forwards and to the story itself. I can understand removing pieces of music to fit pacing but the decision to not have this played by a live orchestra seems to be a strange one in my eyes. Having this music played live for the Ballet would have been the key to making it jump off the stage to me. I am not sure if this decision was cost-related or time / space related or simply a creative decision, but for me this was the one thing lacking.

The performance of the dancers was outstanding. Bourne has traditionally placed male dancers in female played parts and within Swan Lake the entire swan ensemble is played by male dancers, making the sensual pas de deux between the Prince and the lead swan somewhat more evocative and special to see. The cast on the night that we saw this performance featured Jackson Fisch as The Swan (and also The Stranger) – His performance as the swan was simply sublime. Flawless. The Prince was played by the talented Stephen Murray who also seemed to be highly adaptable to the commanding requirements of his role from young royal discovering his place within the world and discovering there is more to life than his royal commitments, to the ever-so lonely young man searching for his true love, to passionate lover in act 3. The rest of the cast really should be mentioned too but I would be here forever. The way they performed together in time and out of time where required, without any visual mistake proves that this is a well rehearsed company that Bourne has put together and that this now-epic tour of 30 years plus will simply run and run and run. A final special mention from me is for Eleanor McGrath who plays one of the ensemble during one of the royal balls. I have seen her perform within something else in the past, and she’s already on my one to watch list.

Bourne has created more than a ressurection of a classic Ballet, he has create a legacy that his New Adventures company continue to perform with outstanding accuracy and dedication every night. This production reminds you the audience what theatre can be and furthermore how Dance can electrify your experience of it.