Review: THE CAR MAN at Royal Albert Hall

 

Highly physical, beautifully danced and sexy as all hell, Sir Matthew Bourne's acclaimed ballet The Car Man made its debut in 2000 and now returns to London with an imaginative new staging at the Royal Albert Hall.

The show takes in many diverse inspirations. Located in the fictional Italian-American community of Harmony, we're landed into a hormonal powderkeg in 1950s small-town America: imagine a rough-and-tumble blend of Grease, Footloose and American Graffiti and you won't be too far off. The music itself is an extended version of Rodion Shchedrin's 40-minute ballet version of Georges Bizet's opera score for Carmen while the story is based on the classic James M Cain novel The Postman Always Rings Twice.

Luca arrives in town and soon espies a sign saying "Man Wanted". Although written by diner and garage owner Dino, it apparently applies just as much to his wife Lana who quickly falls for the peripatetic newcomer. Luca has barely consummated that seduction before he ends up having backseat sex with the quiet young mechanic Angelo. From there, the story spins into orgies, murder, incarceration and tragic vengeance; by the end, this carnival of petit morts boils over into one grand mort.

The cast has been expanded threefold in the last 20 years and now features 65 dancers. Led by Will Bozier as handsome drifter Luca and Zizi Strallen's lusty Lana, most of them portray sassy lasses and spunky hunks who are here to play hard, dance hard and chew gum. And they're all out of gum.

Bourne's 2022 version boasts a new staging, the most significant element of which is a thrust stage with seating either side. Large screens set the scene and occasionally switch to focus the characters' faces at key moments. Brett Morris conducts a fine 25-strong orchestra hidden for the most part behind one of the screens and the cast make exits and entrances through the stalls, adding a slight immersive quality to proceedings. One downside of the new staging, though, are the telegraph poles on the thrust stage which occasionally obscure the action on stage.

Jonathan Ollivier memorably played Luca in The Car Man's 2015 run at Sadler's Wells; just hours before he was due to perform on the closing night, he was killed in a motorcycle accident. Bozier, who has previously played the lead in Bourne's all-male Swan Lake, ably picks up the baton and gives a virile performance throughout, turning the testosterone up to eleven when required and is full of passion right to the death.

Opposite him, Strallen is a charismatic figure as is the expressive Alan Vincent. The latter originated the role of Luca and here magnificently reprises his 2015 turn as Dino. They way these two play off each other in the early scenes the wantaway wife and jealous husband gives what follows that extra frisson. Angelo has the greatest character arc, going from a sensitive grease monkey pussyfooting around with Kayla Collymore's Rita to a prison-hardened man on a mission, and Paris Fitzpatrick's portrayal is an emotive highlight of the show.

The real star, though, is Bourne's vigorous choreography. His character work is superb, bringing out the traits of each of the leads with a minimum of effort. He excels in giving a voice to raw sensuality in a way few directors (of ballet or any art form) are currently able to do. The show is unashamedly steamy from the off with a shower scene full of naked mechanics lighting the blue touch paper for what is to follow. In Bourne's capable hands, the balletic bumping and grinding is never cheesy, crass or gratuitous but feels more like being in the midst of a life-affirming orgy.

The Car Man lacks the nuanced passion of 2017's Jude Law-led Obsession (another show which riffed off the classic Cain novel) but, for fans old and new, this revitalised version is an incredibly fun joyride.

The Car Man continues at the Royal Albert Hall until 19 June.

Image: Tristram Kenton

 

 

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