Matthew Bourne's Dorian Gray

Matthew Bourne's Dorian Gray was a sell-out hit when it arrived at Sadler's Wells last year, but that was mainly down to Bourne's radical reputation preceding him. From the man who took Swan Lake and The Nutcracker and
made them electrifyingly modern, audiences may have expected a whipped-cream fairytale but Oscar Wilde's novel offers a far darker, Gothic tale and this dance version is an explicit twisting of it. Catapulted into contemporary London society, Dorian becomes an 'It Boy', photographed instead of painted, and
the spiralling, depraved quest for pleasure and beauty is set in motion. A definite departure from Bourne's earlier works; you'll either love it or hate it but, once again, he's at the thrilling edge of dance theatre with this excessive production with its "trashy and posey" choreography and "relentless and tacky" (The Guardian) score.

Photo: Chris Dunlop