The Matthew Bourne Season
Premiere on Stream
Tuesday 2 November 2021: Five ballet films by leading UK choreographer Sir Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures company will premiere on Stream, the Opera House’s streaming platform, throughout November.
In a career spanning more than 30 years, celebrated British choreographer and director Matthew Bourne has been transforming the way we experience dance, reimagining classic works in bold new ways that speak to contemporary audiences. The Matthew Bourne Season features five performances, lavishly captured on film, and behind-the-scenes films featuring interviews with cast and creatives.
• Swan Lake, the global smash hit that shattered conventions with its corps de ballet of menacing male swans. The now legendary production caused an immediate sensation when it premiered at Sadler’s Wells in 1995. Thrilling, audacious, witty and emotive, this ground-breaking production turned tradition upside down and took the dance world by storm. Award-winning designers Lez Brotherston and Paule Constable, alongside Bourne, have created a powerful interpretation of Tchaikovsky’s beloved tale for the 21st century. Streaming now.
• Romeo + Juliet, set in a dystopian future designed to crush the spirits of the young. It is a passionate and contemporary re-imagining of Shakespeare’s classic story of love and conflict set to Sergei Prokofiev’s score and featuring the finest emerging male and female dancers from around the UK. Streaming now as part of the Bundle or rent individually from 9 November.
• The Red Shoes, based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale and Powell and Pressburger’s 1948 film of the same name, is the tale of one girl’s dream to be the greatest dancer in the world. The double Olivier Award-winning show is set against the achingly romantic music of the golden age of Hollywood composer Bernard Herrmann. Streaming now as part of the Bundle or rent individually from 16 November.
• The Car Man, loosely based on Bizet’s popular opera Carmen, is a delightful, dangerous and ultimately uncompromising vision of small-town 1960s America. The familiar 19th-century Spanish cigarette factory of the opera becomes a greasy garage-diner where the arrival of a handsome stranger disturbs the dreams and passions of those who live and work there. Streaming now as part of the Bundle or rent individually from 23 November.
• Cinderella, a thrilling and evocative love story set in London during the Second World War. Cinderella and a dashing young RAF pilot fall in love but are parted by the horrors of the Blitz. Bourne’s vivid storytelling takes the audience into the heart of Prokofiev’s magnificent score, and the sights and sounds of war-torn London. Streaming now as part of the Bundle or rent individually from 30 November.
Sir Matthew Bourne OBE is widely hailed as the UK’s most popular and successful choreographer and director. For over 30 years he has been creating and directing dance for musicals, theatre, film as well as his own highly successful, award-winning companies. Matthew has been recognised by numerous international awards. He is the most decorated Olivier Award Winner and is the only British director to have won the Tony Award for both Best Choreographer and Best Director of a Musical. A pioneer in taking performance to wider audiences through the medium of film, many of New Adventures’ productions have been filmed for television broadcast and cinema release.
Stream is a virtual front row seat at the Opera House from anywhere in the world, designed to showcase world-class performing and digital arts. The program features highlights from the Opera House’s incredible multi-genre archive, livestreams of new performances, presentations by resident and international performing arts companies, and original digital content created exclusively for the platform. Over 100 hours of programming across more than 200 performances and films are now available to watch on-demand, with new content announced monthly. A subscription to Stream is free, with exclusive access to ticketed performances and events available to rent.
Sydney Opera House Digital Programming
Since its inception nearly a decade ago, the Opera House’s digital program has engaged tens of millions of people around the world through livestreams, performance films, podcast series, short films and original digital commissions. Led by Stuart Buchanan, the year-round program presents new work at the intersection of digital and live performance by iconic artists, emerging voices and diverse local communities, alongside original presentations for schools through our Digital Creative Learning program; and multiple series of Sydney Opera House podcasts. Current programs include Outlines – Digital Performance Lab, which brings leading technologists together with boundary-pushing artists; the Shortwave commissioning series, platforming early career interdisciplinary artists working at the forefront of digital performance; Ideas At the House and Deadly Voices podcasts; and digital programming for kids and families including the popular webseries Footlights and Booklights and Who’s In The Lift?.
The Opera House is a masterpiece that belongs to all Australians. It is the nation’s premier tourism destination, a world-class performing arts centre and celebrated community meeting place, welcoming 10.9 million visitors to the site in 2019, including more than 2.1 million performance and tours patrons. A global beacon for creativity, the Opera House is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, and Deloitte has estimated its total social asset value to Australia at $6.2 billion. The Opera House is nearing completion of its Decade of Renewal, an ambitious program of major upgrades to ensure this 20th-century icon continues to inspire 21st-century artists, audiences and visitors.
