Just seen Mathew Bourne's Cinderella in which both Cinders and her Prince Charming both wear Glasses.
Bourne has updated the ballet transferring it to 1940's wartime London, a time when contact lenses were not available hence why a number if the key characters wear glasses.
Besides "plane Jane" Cinderella and her "intelligent" Prince Charming there is the step brother who has a shoe fetish, the doctors in the psychiatric unit and many if the supporting cast all of whom wear glasses.
It is a fantastically imaginative production and the staging is dramatic with sirens, loud bangs and black and white war film archive propaganda.
Cinders transforms from plain Jane arriving at the ball in a glorious sparkly white number and by this times neither her or the Prince are wearing glasses. They can now miraculously now see - maybe they had iGO overnight vision correction after all in those days or maybe it was the magic of the fairy godfather!
The best scene for me was the early morning bedroom scene with the italienate light which basks the two leads who have the stage to themselves in early morning sunshine.
The final act has Cinderella and Prince Charming reuniting in hospital. The wicked stepmother, the most graceful and my favourite dancer tries unsuccessfully to suffocate Cinders in her bed. She is carted off to prison.
Prince Charming arrives separately and the doctor administers electric shock treatment after first carefully removing his glasses.
Cinders somehow finds him slumped in a chair as he is slowly coming around.
Of course he doesn't recognize her at first as he has to put his glasses back on before he can see her. At the same time she removes her glasses so he can see her at her best and when they fell in love at the dance she was glasses free. Anyway they compare shoes just to be sure she has the left foot and he has the right.
They finally try kiss but as they both have their glasses back on they clash and have to remove them to embrace properly.
The ballet ends playing out to Pennsylvania 6500 and the cast boogying away.
Fantastic, roll on Romeo and Romeo - his next production!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:London Sadlers Wells
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