Corruption, celebrity and confidence
Lloyd Evans talks to Matthew Bourne about his new ballet Dorian Gray and co-directing Oliver!
Having left school at 18, (‘There was nothing there for me, nothing artistic’), he embarked on a haphazard programme of self-education. He read voraciously, went to films and concerts. ‘One day it was like, oh, I need to see a ballet. What’s a famous ballet? Swan Lake. That’s famous. Go and see that.’ He was 19. Even now he can’t remember which company he saw. ‘I went twice in one week. Either it was Scottish Ballet here, or Canadian Ballet at Covent Garden. Obviously, I quite liked it.’ Obviously. But it took several more years before it occurred to him to pursue a career in dance. At 22, he was working as an usher at the National Theatre where a colleague happened to mention that he’d enrolled at dance college. ‘And I thought that’s absolutely what I should be doing.’
His audition, at the Laban Centre in Deptford, was his first experience of a dance class. ‘I was very confident; I thought I’m all right, I’m quite good. Just do what they tell me to do.’ He was offered a place. After graduating he formed a company and began putting on shows exactly as he had as a small boy with nothing but his instincts to guide him. ‘I’ve been called the Damien Hirst of dance. And there’s this myth that I’m controversial and shocking. But I’m the opposite, I’m very wanting to please. I’m old-fashioned.’ A label he much prefers is ‘the Noël Coward of dance’. ‘Does anyone call you Master?’ Another chuckle. ‘No. Mr B.’
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