Louise Levene

First Bourne

Camp, funny and unashamedly accessible, Bourne’s earliest efforts were a far cry from the earnest output of his more contemporary contemporaries

issue 15 April 2017

‘Modern’ dance was no laughing matter in 1987. Harold King, director of the now-defunct London City Ballet, cattily typified it as ‘lesbians in bovver boots playing a mouth organ and banging a drum on the banks of the Thames’. Camp, funny and unashamedly ‘accessible’, even Matthew Bourne’s earliest efforts were a far cry from the earnest output of his more contemporary contemporaries as his 30th anniversary retrospective, Early Adventures, reminds us.

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