Madness and Birds

Am back in the motherland after a few days spent in London visiting people and indulging in pleasures. Thursday night was spent at the Sadler's Wells where I had the pleasure of seeing Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake which I was highly impressed with and thought that I should write something about it. The traditional Swan Lake is a fairly sweet but tragic love story (if you don't know the story think 'Little Mermaid' and you're almost there). I saw the Classical version a few years ago whilst in Prague and, while being graceful and fairytaleish, it is a fairly generic story that doesn't deviate from the normal modes of classical ballet. (nb. I don't know much about the technicalities of ballet so don't expect anything about that).

In contrast, Bourne's production was dark and sinister, managing to mix a successful blend of light comedy in the opening scenes that degenerates into madness. Obviously the most impressive aspect of the production is the swans, and particularly the Swan (traditionally Odette), who at first appear as seductive, beckoning the Prince to join them, only to become more sinister after he has lost his heart to the Swan. I argued with my mum later as to whether the scenes with the swans were 'actual' or whether they were simply delusions of the Prince who becomes more deranged until the final scene when his Swan Lover is pecked to death in a gruesome scene by the other swans (Bourne acknowledges Hitchcock's 'The birds' as the inspiration for this scene). When the Prince awakes he is found dead also; a question left over whether it is his heart or his mind that has caused his downfall.

What struck me about it all is the way the madness and repression are played with. The roles of the classical version are twisted so that it is the Prince who is repressed in his desires while the Swan is a figure of power and freedom. The nature of reality is played with so we can wonder whether the entirity is simply a figment of the Prince's delusional mind. If it is then I believe the story takes an even more tragic turn; rather than being one of love it becomes one of desire. My mum said it was about homosexual love but I think that it was more a case of a desire to be free from repression and to maintain affirmation. The Swan is the symbolic image of freedom and affirmation that the Prince desires to attain, yet he is forced into a fixed position by his girlfriend and mother where he must fit the role of 'Prince'. The first appearance of the swans allows us to be seduced by them. Whereas a female corps is elegant and ethereal the male corps imbues something far more lustful and earthly. The Swan himself is an affirmation of life, a constant overflowing of exuberance is apparent in his steps and so it is no surprise that for the Prince, who must follow the rules of society, this figure is the symbol of his desire. When the Stranger (played by the same dancer as the Swan) arrives at the party in the final act the Prince is driven further towards madness. The Stranger embodies everything that he wishes he could be yet cannot. By vanishing in and out of the scene he becomes something fleeting and unattainable, in attempting to kill him the Prince can in one (perhaps Hegelian?) moment attempts to negate what is not him and assert his own essence, his own being.

Unfortunately for the Prince he is unable to destroy the Stranger who embodies what he seeks to achieve and instead is placed within a mental institution. Upon his release the Swan appears to him again, only this time with lacerations upon his chest and back. As they dance together the Prince at the same time closes and widens the distance between them; even as they dance there is an awareness that the Swan is the unattainable. When the swans reappear it is they who horrifically kill the Swan, the Prince's own delusional mind destroying the object of desire only to discover that he cannot live without the unattainable; his desire tortures him unto death.

Swan Lake shifts from a classic fairy tale that employs little that is unexpected to a dark treatise on the nature of madness and desire. The object of our desire torments us, strong and passionate like the Swan it remains ever unattainable, part of a dream that can destroy our state of mind until we eventually destroy ourself. Rather than the Swan, it is the Prince who is the tragic figure; we are called to watch the strains of his repression and to mourn the eventual death of his desire. Set to the music of Tchaikovsky it truly is a terrible and haunting piece, I recommend that anyone with a passing interest in ballet see it. Even if you don't and you have lots of money you should.

|