This man needs no introduction, but alas, we’ll give him one anyway! Matthew Bourne is a pioneer in the arts industry, taking dance to wider audiences. Next year, his latest venture Lord of the Flies will find a home exclusively in Melbourne. Based on the novel by William Golding comes an inventive show unlike any other. We were lucky enough to sit down with the man himself and have a chat about its origins and what it means for young aspiring male dancers.
The most pressing thing first up that we need to discuss is your name. Are you more Jason Bourne, Matt Damon, or an amalgamation of both?
I get funny things at passport control. They see Bourne and they see Matthew and they kind of think, oh, but then they think it’s Matt Damon and I see what’s going on in their heads.
Do you think you’d ever create a work based on the Bourne series?
No, because the story’s not right for me somehow but I enjoy them. I like Matt Damon though he’s a good actor and seems like a nice guy so I don’t mind people thinking I’m Matt Damon.
We’re very excited about Lord of the Flies. Thank you for picking Melbourne to exclusively bring it to.
Melbourne picked us as well. We’ve tried to make it work in several places but this team really got it what it means to make this project happen; it’s not just booking a show and bringing it in, it’s so much more than that. What makes this project work is the engagement of finding young people – it’s a long project and it has a big build up and after effect.
Speaking of the dancers, what are you looking for when you cast these young male dancers?
It’s an interesting one because they don’t have to be particularly skilled. Some of them may have done the odd dance class or be interested in it or a form of it, but it’s more about the passion for it, the passion to be involved and be part of something exciting and new – that’s what were looking for. We’re not looking for people who want a career in dance necessarily, it may happen and it does happen, but it’s more about their desire to be part of it really.
The themes are quite dark in this play and it’s quite confronting. How are you using dance to communicate those themes?
Dance is very good at extremes and those are stories that I normally look for, ones that are melodramatic and have big things happen in them rather than stories that are more subtle and need a lot of verbal explanation. Dance is good at big themes and big ideas, so the more dramatic things that happen in this and the idea of the young people becoming savage is a very physical thing. If you just say what the story of it is, you can visualise why it would work in movement terms.
There are other sections that are a little more difficult but the bigger things like the young people becoming animalistic and the combat are very physical so it’s a bit easier. The more difficult things to get across were things like when Jack and Ralph are fighting over who’s going to be the leader; it’s a little more complicated. They have to make physical speeches to win over the boys. Those sort of things are challenging.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHFida1cSeA
Is this how you like to choose certain projects? Your resume is incredible and obviously you’d want to try and challenge yourself and one-up yourself every time. Is that one of the reasons why you picked this project?
This project was very different to all the other ones. Normally my brief is that it’s got to sell for eight shows a week, tour and sell to ordinary audiences. It has to have a certain popular appeal to it: title, music, a famous film or book.
This project only came about because it was brought to us by the Scottish Arts Council and they wanted to do a project that was one of our New Adventures and Re:Bourne shows that would include, in a meaningful way, young men from the Glasgow region. That was the brief. I was like ‘oh, that’s difficult’. But it’s all part of the process. You’d be surprised at these boys. They don’t look like dancers necessarily but there are a couple of brilliant stories amongst them, we even have the classic boy who couldn’t be the professional rugby player and chose dance. He looked like a rugby player and he’s just now going into full time training.
There’s a lot of warmth and love that comes from you and within the company. What do you want audiences to take away from this show?
I’d like the Melbourne audience to feel proud of it. That it’s a show about young local people up on stage. Even most of the professional cast will be Australians as well. I think it’s the engagement of it being more than just an audience coming to see the show. I want them to be moved by the piece; it’s very powerful. You get involved with the story and you forget some have never done a show before but then at the end you remember that and it makes it more moving somehow about what they’ve achieved, as well as telling the story. So it’s a combined feeling and I know the audience will feel that and the pride that it was made here specifically for that audience.
We saw you went to Lord of the Fries. Did you get some?
No, but it was brilliant; it was just there staring at me. I didn’t even know it was here. I loved that it was so literary. It shows how very cultural Melbourne is.
Lord of the Flies will be playing from April 5-9, 2017 at the Arts Centre Melbourne. Book your tickets now.
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