The Car Man (touring) ★★★★★

British choreographer and director Sir Matthew Bourne OBE has been developing dazzling dance for theatre, musicals, films, and his own productions since 1986. His dance company New Adventures has received numerous international awards and 12 Olivier Award nominations, including six wins. They have a glowing repertoire of classical stories from literature and film retold with their own theatrical twist. Grounded in Bourne’s distinctive dance-theatre methodology, The Car Man is one such show, based on Georges Bizet’s 19th-century opera Carmen and James M. Cain’s novel The Postman Always Rings Twice. First performed in Plymouth in May 2000, The Car Man went on to a UK and International Tour in 2001/02. Revived in 2016 and for a special Royal Albert Hall performance in 2022, the show has now returned for a major UK tour.

While there are many versions of Bizet’s Carmen, Bourne’s dance-theatre tells the story like never before. He has retained elements of the original, like lust, fate, revenge, and murder, but the story is not the same. Forget 1820s Spain; welcome to the 1960s American mid-West town of Harmony, which is anything but harmonious. The curtains are pulled back, and the arriving audience can see a garage, an office, and a diner. Before the show starts, dancers take over the stage, tinkering with cars, chatting, and reading. Some shirtless men even start doing pull-ups. A car engine revs, the audience lights dim, and the story kicks into gear.

The small town is shaken when handsome, arrogant stranger Luca, Will Bozier, swaggers in, catching the eye of coquettish Lana, Cordelia Braithwaite. The tension is electric. Luca starts working for Lana’s abusive husband, Dino, played by Alan Vincent. He created and performed the title role of Luca in The Car Man in 2000. It is in a later scene where the audience is graced with a taste of Vincent’s talent, and it is otherworldly. Luca and Lana begin a dangerous affair. Hell hath no fury like a partner scorned. Angelo, Leonardo McCorkindale, delivers one of the most striking performances across the storyline, going from a quiet young man dancing elegantly, almost fearfully, to strutting around like he owns the place. His duets with Lana’s sister Rita, Anna-Maria de Freitas, will leave you on the edge of your seat.

The performers beautifully execute stunning choreography. Movements are earthy, gritty, and contemporary, more sensual than a classical ballet could hope to be, and sometimes angry and rough. Some of the choreography takes inspiration from boxing and fighting, cleverly incorporating punching movements and a skipping rope. One wonders how their jeans are so stretchy. The show was unapologetically sexy, but some movements like hip-thrusting and bum-waggling felt unnecessary and childish. Regardless, the performers display an almost frenetic energy that lures the audience in, going full throttle from start to finish. In a scene which must have been the height of summer, their movements are so slow and languid that one can almost feel the heat emanating from the stage. Slapping mosquitoes becomes part of the choreography. The performance is an almost overwhelming visual feast, with near-constant movement as dancers do not follow exactly the same choreography.

Rodion Shchedrin, a high-profile Russian composer, adapted Bizet’s opera into a high-energy ballet, Carmen Suite. Bourne enlisted Olivier Award-winning composer Terry Davies to develop the music for Car Man, using Carmen Suite and incorporating strings and percussion to create a full-length score based on Bourne’s scenes and dances.

The queer representation is strong, as two men also comprise a coupling, and it is the first ballet to use bisexuality as a major plotline. It might not be the most positive representation, but, as always, not everyone should be painted with the same brush. Shift happens.