Dance the night away… at The Midnight Bell opening in London

The ‘Master of the Dance’ has lost none of his skill.

Matthew Bourne’s latest work The Midnight Bell just opened triumphantly in London and held the audience spellbound, writes Christopher Walker.

Showcasing outstanding performances from 12 of his best dancers, it is an intelligent, haunting piece.

A hymn to the darker side of Soho that leaves the viewer enchanted, and perhaps just a little wistful.

Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures sprung from a group of talents who met at the Laban dance conservatoire in New Cross.

It has become an iconic dance-theatre company, that tells “stories with a unique theatrical twist,” and has won six Olivier awards.

The Midnight Bell is their 12th major work. The piece is inspired by the works of Patrick Hamilton, and in particular his 1930s epic Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky.

The plot concerns a group of lonely, lovelorn, characters drawn to a Soho watering hole – The Midnight Bell.

Their relentless pursuit of each other is chronicled in painful detail. Bourne sees it as the flip side to Noel Coward’s more familiar 1930s world of cocktails and high society.

Self-delusion is a strong theme, as expressed in one song Man and His Dream.

The music is quite mesmerizing, thanks to the clever interplay between carefully chosen songs of the period and new composition by Terry Davies.

At certain points the performers appear to be singing the interwar Torch Songs themselves, in a lip-synch style reminiscent of Dennis Potter’s TV series – Pennies from Heaven.

Bourne has teased out some of the finest nuanced performances you will see on stage from contemporary dancers. Their dancing only being equalled by their acting.

Michela Meazza plays Miss Roach “a lonely spinster” with sweeping angular movies and a studied pathos.

Her hopeless affair with Ernest Ralph Gorse, “a Cad” played by a slithering Glenn Graham, unfolds in a series of tense scenes. Thankfully she exacts some revenge on him.

Reece Causton is also particularly memorable as Mr Eccles “a regular customer.”

His performance clearly shows the benefit of much thought and hard work.

He is obsessed with  Netta, an “out of work actress,” danced by Daisy May Kemp, who is wonderfully chilling as she crumbles into alcoholism.

The joyously talented Paris Fitzpatrick  stands out as Bob “a Waiter” flinging himself at Jenny “ a young prostitute” (Bryony Wood), and ignoring Ella “a barmaid” danced by Bryony Harrison.

She in turn is sought by George Harvey Bone (Richard Winsor).

Most of these characters are in the original work, but Bourne admits to “taking the liberty” to add a particularly captivating pair of gay lovers.

Liam Mower plays Albert “A West-End Chorus boy opposite Andrew Monaghan “A New Customer.”

This is very successful.

Some of the most beautiful dancing occurs as pas de deux performed by these two, most memorably to the haunting rendition of The Man I love by Leslie A Hutchinson.

Lez Brotherston’s set and costumes give just the right touch.

A bed dominates centre stage, reinforcing the suspicion that many of the characters are confusing sex with love.

Tellingly it is a single bed.

Swirling London fogs outside as Big Ben tolls the passage of the night, meet clouds of cigarette smoke inside the Soho dives. Atmospheric lighting is by Paule Constable.

The audience comes away with a lot to think about.

Hamilton’s story is autobiographical. After a terrible car accident, he took to heavy drinking in Soho, (eventually dying of  cirrhosis of the liver).

His genius lives on, now in Bourne’s wonderful homage. A must for dance fans.

Go to website: The Midnight Bell playing at the Sadler’s Wells, London

Main Picture: The cast of The Midnight Bell Picture. Credit Johan Persson