In love with fairies

Emma’s mum and dad saw Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty when it was on in London and loved it so much that decided too take us to see it when can’t on your to High Wycombe. Now to be fair I don’t much about this ballet. I had forgotten that it was Tchaikovsky and I always get the stories of Sleeping Beauty and Snow White muddled up in my brain. I also knew that Matthew Bourne had a reputation for doing things a bit differently but had little idea what to expect. What we saw was outstandingly brilliant. I haven’t seen much ballet, fearing I think that I wouldn’t understand it. How wrong could I be!

The production was a true Gothic romance with  sumptuous sets and costumes, ingenious effects, and lighting. Starting story in the late nineteenth century it is a world inhabited by witches,  magic, and fairies and moves on to the present day – the everlasting fairies a link with the past.

I’ve discovered three things. Firstly, that ballet can every so much as brilliant as theatre. Secondly, that I really do like Tchaikovsky – I think he might one of my desert island composers. And lastly, that I am just a little bit in love with (okay a lot in love with…) the idea of fairies. Good fairies and bad they make a story.