Sultry, sensuous, and stunning – this revival of Matthew Bourne’s interpretation of Carmen is raw and powerful dance at its best.
While it borrows music from Bizet’s opera, the story is completely reinvented with the punning title giving a clue to the theme. Gone are Spanish gypsies and soldiers, and instead we are introduced to the fictional US town of Harmony, and in particular a garage run by Dino and a diner overseen by his wife Lana.
Into the mix walks drifter Luca, turning the heads of the townsfolk and in particular Lana and Angelo, boyfriend of Lana’s younger sister Rita. As the weather hots up the town transforms from Harmony to Horny, and all hell breaks loose.
Bourne has a talent for bringing the best out of his dancers, and this production is no exception. His duet choreography is exceptional – and particularly explicit in this show, with some quite literal bump and grind – but the bigger scenes are also filled with detail. No character’s presence is empty. Props are integral, not decoration: cigarettes pass between mouths and tyres fly through the air. There is an easy grace in the company’s movements that says: this is real.
Harrison Dowzell is dazzlingly athletic as the brooding Luca, with jumps, turns, and kicks that defy gravity. His introduction to the diner crowd is packed with comedy and confidence.
Cordelia Braithwaite’s Lana snaps between seductress and softness, brittle and bruiser. There’s no risk of not knowing what is going on: her movements speak a thousand words, with powerful characterisation.
The standout pairing for me on opening night though was Kurumi Kamayachi as Rita and Leonardo McCorkindale as Angelo. The two young lovers demonstrate such gentleness and innocence in their first pas de deux, that it is heartbreaking to see it reprised later in the production overlayed with fear and damage caused by the events they have endured, shifting from sensuous to stilted.
Ballet can sometimes be confusing – the lack of words leaving you scrabbling for programme notes – but this is not the case here. Movement is used to tell a powerful story, with acting as visceral as in any drama.
- Matthew Bourne’s The Car Man continues at Norwich Theatre Royal until Saturday 3 October 2026, then touring nationally. Tickets £21.20-£58.83.