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PRESS QUOTES 1994
"Matthew Bourne has a robust way of reconstructing the art form to make it genuine drama without ever foregoing its essential marriage to the music."
Daily Mail
"Best of all is the sheer idea of the thing. For behind Bourne’s wicked giggles, his choreographic smirks and his two fingers in the face of a much-loved ballet there lies a darkly romantic heart."
The Times
"This is one of the funniest, funkiest, most irresistibly infectious ballets I have ever had the delight of sitting through."
Daily Mail
"Wicked and compulsively watchable"
Time Out
"Extravagantly witty"
The Independent
PRESS QUOTES 2005
"It's a Bourne again classic"
The Gaurdian
“These Sylphs are magical, filthy, amoral and dangerous, and they’ve never looked more compelling. This revival shows Highland Fling to be much more than a witty and subversive raid on ballet history”
The Guardian
"Bourne takes advantage of his extra dancers to embroider his choreographic patterns - and advantage too of the fact that his new cast bring an extra snap and stretch to his material"
The Guardian
“Bourne's language is perfect: soft poetic arms that float on childlike kicks and nuzzling, animal frolics”
The Guardian
“Must see”
Metro Life
"Lustily played by a fine cast"
Metro
“Shot through with Bourne’s trademark wit”
Metro
“Bourne’s tartan sauce”
Evening Standard
"Special mention to Kerry Biggin who makes an especially mischevious Sylph"
The Evening Standard
“Fling is an ensemble ballet with all 11 dancers near equal contributors”
Evening Standard
“Clever ideas and tartan a go-go designs by Lez Brotherston”
Evening Standard
“Far funnier and more fantastic than the original”
Daily Telegraph
“James Leece cuts a handsome figure in a kilt”
Daily Telegraph
"Act 2's grass-stained, ragged sylphs with their perfect white Cupid wings, and the moonlit dump that does duty for a 'forest glad', draw surreality out of realities with brilliant grace"
Daily Telegraph
“Matthew Bourne’s La Sylphide parody is back, and about time, too.”
The Times
“wry social observation and tongue-in-cheek humour”
The Times
“Bourne has always had a gift for clever mimed action that speaks directly to his audience, and he uses it well “
The Times
"Bourne's slyph's meet Scotland of Trainspotting"
The Independent
"Bourne has a brilliant sense of body language, and he builds it into narrative dances. There's a wonderful wedding march - all the characters prancing forwrd at top speed, each giving the steps an indiviudal twist."
The Independent
"James Leece was an exuberant James, cheerfully gormless, Keyy Biggin is a light scampering Sylph. As Effie, Mikah Smillie dances with witty perkiness, then cuts through it into somber grief"
The Independent
“High roads, low roads – MacBourne takes them all”
The Independent on Sunday
“This is typical Bourne character-comedy”
The Independent on Sunday
“Those who thought they wouldn’t be seen dead at dance have succumbed to its visceral thrill via the sheer drama of Bourne’s best work.”
The Independent on Sunday
“Another witty update of a ballet classic”
Sunday Times
“Bourne demonstrates a voice of his own in a dance language that truly creates character, atmosphere and tells a story.”
The Sunday Express
