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Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures is the UK’s premier contemporary dance/theatre touring company.
It’s repertory includes some of the most successful dance productions of the last two decades. The company was launched in 2002 to create and perform both large and small-scale work by Matthew Bourne.
Since it’s launch it has built an enviable repertoire of exciting new work (Play Without Words and Edward Scissorhands) and new productions of favourite works from the repertory of Matthew Bourne’s former company, Adventures In Motion Pictures. New Adventures is committed to reviving these popular works on a regular basis, along with the creation of new work.
As well as being a Resident Company at Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London, New Adventures is also a touring company. Both at home and internationally, it annually gives more performances than any other UK dance company.
New Adventures will, this season, employ over seventy dancers in its productions. Many of the younger dancers are receiving their first professional experience in a large company, whilst others have committed most if not all of their career to working with Bourne. Despite only being able to offer show by show contracts to its dancers, New Adventures is very much a company (almost a family) with extraordinary loyalty amongst its artists, collaborators and technical staff.
New Adventures’ first work Play Without Words was premièred in August 2002 as part of the National Theatre’s Transformation Season. It went on to be nominated for 5 Olivier Awards (winning 2) and returned to the National Theatre’s repertory before undertaking a major UK tour and seasons in Tokyo, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Moscow.
Nutcracker! in association with ATG and Sadler’s Wells, was the company’s second new production in 2002. It has played three wildly successful Christmas seasons at Sadler’s Wells (2002, 2003 and 2007) as well as touring extensively in the UK and a four month tour of Japan and Korea. It made its USA debut in California and the production was also filmed by the BBC1 for a Christmas showing in 2003.
A new production of Matthew Bourne’s ‘Romantic wee ballet’ Highland Fling began in 2005. Loosely based on ‘La Sylphide’, the show toured extensively throughout the UK in the Spring and, due to popular demand, an extra 11 days of performances had to be scheduled at New Adventures home base, Sadler’s Wells. The production then went on to tour Japan, where the Company now has a large fan-base.
In November 2005 New Adventures, Martin McCallum and Marc Platt presented the world premiere of Matthew Bourne’s new adaptation of the classic Tim Burton film Edward Scissorhands. Following a record breaking 11 week run at Sadler’s Wells, the production toured the UK in 2006 playing to sell-out audiences at most performances. The production then toured Korea and Japan before embarking on a 6 month tour of the USA throughout 2006 and 2007, during which it received standing ovations at every performance.
Swan Lake continues to go from strength to strength. Its last outing in London was a total sell out before going on to Japan and Korea. Now in its 13th year, a debut season in Paris was followed in 2006 with dates in the USA and the UK. In 2007 Swan Lake broke new ground with tours in Greece, Russia and Australia.
2007 also saw the revival of The Car Man. Based on Bizet's Carmen and first seen in London's West End in 2000, the production broke all records for a summer show at Sadler’s Wells by taking over £1million. Following a sold out run in London the show had one of the most successful UK tours the Company has ever undertaken with audience figures regularly exceeding expectations.
Matthew Bourne’s ever-popular Nutcracker! was revived for a record fifth Christmas season at Sadler’s Wells 07 before going on an extensive UK tour until May 2008.
This year will also see the return of Edward Scissorhands for an Australian and French Tour and Christmas Season at Sadlers Wells. In August, The 2008 Edinburgh International Festival presents the World Premiere of Bourne's latest work for New Adventures, Dorian Gray, based on Oscar Wilde's gothic masterpiece.
A BRIEF COMPANY HISTORY
ADVENTURES IN MOTION PICTURES 1987 -2001
1987-1990
THE EARLY YEARSOVERLAP LOVERS (1987)
“The treats included the appearance of a new company called Adventures in Motion Pictures”
The Guardian
“I hope to see more… of a new company, Adventures in Motion Pictures.”
The Financial Times
SPITFIRE (1988)
“absurdly dignified”
The Observer
“brilliant and hilarious…”
The Dancing Times
THE INFERNAL GALOP (1989 – Revived 1992)
“Matthew Bourne’s choreographey is among the rare delights of the British new dance scene today”
The Financial Times
“offers some of the best fun of any dance show this year”
The Independent
1991-1993
TOWN AND COUNTRY (1991)
Winner of Barclays’ New Stages award
Nominated for 1992 Olivier award for the “Most Outstanding Achievement in Dance”
“The UK’s cleverest, most entertaining dance company… seriously beautiful choreography”
Time Out
“Matthew Bourne has firmly established himself as the Noël Coward of Modern Dance”
Ham and High
DEADLY SERIOUS (1992)
“an evening of playful horror, exaggerated intrigue and lurid fun in the manner of Hitchcock”.
The Guardian
“hits moment of brilliance in its translation of movement into dance…downright chilling… succeeds extraordinarily in making you feel on your nerve endings, all the sexuality, menace and intensity of Hitchcock’s cinema.”
The Independent
THE PERCY”S OF FITZROVIA (1992)
“a refreshing desire to entertain has set AMP apart in the modern dance world.”
Ham and High
LATE FLOWERING LUST (1993) (BBC TV)
Starring Nigel Hawthorne
Nominated for the 1993 Golden Rose of Montreux
DRIP – A Narcicistic Love Story (1993) (BBC TV)
Winner of a 1993 Dance for the Camera Award
NUTCRACKER! (1992)
Premiered on 26th August at the 1992 Edinburgh Festival (with Opera North)
Sadlers Wells Premiere – 8th December 1993
Nominated for a 1994 Olivier award, “Best New Dance Production”
Nominated for a 1992 The Scotsman’s Best of the Edinburgh Festival Award.
“A sensational Nutcracker…”
The Guardian
“Dazzling imaginative.”
The Sunday Times
“A cracker with a touch of genius”
The Stage
1994
HIGHLAND FLING – A Romantic Wee Ballet
“One of the funniest, funkiest, most irresistibly infectious ballets I have ever had the delight of sitting through”
Daily Mail
“…mighty set-pieces of fast, foot-flying dance, phrases that move at the speed of light…his most dancerly work.”
The Independent on Sunday
1995-96
SWAN LAKE (1995)
World première at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, 9th November 1995; West End première at the Piccadilly Theatre, 11th September 1996; US première at the Ahmanson Theatre, LA, 25th April 1997; Broadway première at the Neil Simon Theatre, 8th October1998.
Winner of over 30 international awards including the 1996 Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production and the 1999 Tony Awards for Best Choreographer, Best Direction of a Musical and Best Costume Design.
“The most fabulous sight on the London stage”
Daily Telegraph
“…uniquely audacious and unforgettable”.
LA Times
1997-99
CINDERELLA (1997)
World première at the Piccadilly Theatre, 26th September 1997; US première at the Ahmanson Theatre, LA, 7th April 1999.
Winner of the 1998 Olivier Award for ‘Outstanding Achievement in Dance” for Lez Brotherston’s Set and Costume Designs. 1999 Backstage Garland and Los Angeles Drama Critics’ Awards for "Best Choreography"
“Matthew Bourne proving again that he has one of the most dazzling theatrical imaginations in the business”
The Guardian
“A work of considerable genius”.
The International Herald Tribune
2000 - 2001
THE CAR MAN (2000)
World Premiere – Plymouth 16th May 2000
Winner of The Evening Standard Award for “Musical Event of 2000”
Nominated for Olivier Award - ‘Outstanding Achievement in Dance”
“A humping, pumping, thumping fat hit”
Daily Telegraph
“Gorgeously expressive and gripping. The storytelling is so concentrated that it feels at every moment on the verge of explosion”
Variety
NEW ADVENTURES 2002-
2002 - 2004
PLAY WITHOUT WORDS (2002)
World Premiere – National Theatre 23rd August 2002
Winner of two Olivier Awards for “Outstanding Theatrical Event” and “Outstanding Choreography”
Winner of National Dance Award - "Best Choreography"
Nominated for five Drama Desk Awards and The South Bank Show Award
“ A groovily shagtastic and blazingly original show…a absolute cracker – funny, sexy, sinister, nostalgic, brilliantly stylish”
The Daily Telegraph
“A breakthrough in Bourne’s career and a major event in British Theatre”
Financial Times
NUTCRACKER! (NEW PRODUCTION 2002)
Premiere - Bromley 11th November 2002
“Surely the only version in history to generate real narrative tension. Once again, Bourne proves that when it comes to conjuring stories, he knows how to work the right spells”
The Guardian
“Even more charming, even more of an eyeful than ever before”
The Daily Telegraph
“Definitive”
The Spectator
SWAN LAKE (10th Anniversary Production)
Premiere 1994
“It’s epic, tragic, personal and universal. Welcome back to this tremendous show”
The Daily Telegraph
'Blazingly original and serenely self assured. Bourne finds an entirely new Swan Lake, you feel at the end, that was just waiting to be discovered"
San Francisco Chronicle
2005 -2007
HIGHLAND FLING (NEW PRODUCTION 2005)
Premiere - Bromley 12th February 2005
“It’s a Bourne again classic”
The Guardian
"A masterpiece of simple storytelling...a genuinely affecting tragedy"
The Scottish Sunday Times
EDWARD SCISSORHANDS (2005)
Premiere - Plymouth 14th November 2005
USA Premiere - San Francisco 11th November 2006
Winner of The Drama Desk Award – “Unique Theatrical Experience”
Winner of The Manchester Evening News Award for “Best New Dance Production”
Nominated for The South Bank Show Award
“Shear theatrical magic… soars into ballet ecstasy”
Time Magazine
“a seemingly boundless sense of invention and attention to detail… could hardly be more inspired”
Wall Street Journal
“Mr Bourne is the outsider who makes other outsiders feel comfortable in the theatre”
New York Sun
2008 -
DORIAN GRAY (2008)Previews - Plymouth 14th August
World Premiere - Edinburgh International Theatre 22nd August
London Premiere - Sadlers Wells 2nd September
"The highlight of this years Festival"
The Evening News (Scotland)
"This is sure to be one of the hot tickets of the year"
The Evening Standard
