Matthew Christopher Bourne Essay - 1276 Words

Matthew Christopher Bourne Born 13th. January, 1960, London. British dancer and choreographer. His parents were June and Jim Bourne and he had a brother Dan. His mother was a secretary and his father worked for Thames Water for 30 years. When 12 or 13 he and his friend Simon Carter waited to get the autographs of actors outside the Apollo, Lyric, Palace, or Queens theatres. He attended a Methodist-run youth club which had a choir and he put on his versions of musicals. He went to school at the Sir George Monoux mixed comprehensive (later a sixth-form college) in Walthamstow in north-east London. He left with two grade C A levels. He didnt admit to himself that he was gay until he was 18. He then rang the†¦show more content†¦Its not as original as his Swan Lake, but it is breathtaking in its intensity, pacing and the high energy level of Bournes superbly honed dance troupe. In The Car Man, Bourne, who calls Los Angeles his second home, has written his first work set on American soil. Though inspired by and set to music from Bizets Carmen, incorporated into Terry Davies and Rodion Shchedrins Carmen Suite, images are also drawn from The Postman Always Rings Twice and A Streetcar Named Desire. Theres also a strong whiff of Tennessee Williams earlier play, Orpheus Descending. Set in a small mid-West town called Harmony in the mid-1960s, the focus is on sexual obsession. Bourne catches the feel of a small town exploding with raging hormones and no distractions. The mechanics at Dinos Garage and the waitresses at Dinos Cafà © express themselves by hip-pumping and hip-twitching respectively. The boys alternative sport is tormenting more sensitive souls. Into this charged atmosphere strolls Luca, a drifter. Employed by Dino at his garage, Luca is a dancing phallus. He not only seduces Dinos wife, Lana, but also has a one-night stand with Angelo, the gentle boyfriend of Lanas sister Rita, who is the butt of merciless hazing by the town studs until Luca rescues him. The hitherto repressed homosexuality of Luca and Angelo and Dinos jealousy of his wifes fascination with Luca build through a climate of romantic obsession to