Mathew Bourne’s Swan Lake has taken the broad outline of the original Swan Lake plot and turned it into something quite different. Tchaikovsky’s music is still used. The ballet follows a young prince with a desire for freedom and love, which he finds in the swan. Unlike the original ballet, Mathew Bourne’s Swan Lake uses men to portray the swans as aggressive and arrogant, rather than the traditional archetype of the swan as a delicate, graceful creature. It also moves away from more traditional ballet forms including jazz ballet and modern dancing.

This version of Swan Lake looks at love between men. It is also believed to be a commentary of the British Royal Family. It has been suggested that the character of the Prince may be based on Prince Charles, who married his true love after his arranged marriage failed, as well as Prince Edward, believed by some to be gay.

The ballet has been very successful and is currently on tour. So successful was this version of the ballet, that it is used in the movie Billy Elliot. The ballet seen in the movie is Mathew Bourne’s ballet company ‘Adventures in Motion Pictures’. In the final scene of Billy Elliot, a grown up Billy takes the stage as the lead swan.