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3. THE THEMES OF BOURNE’S SWAN LAKEBourne states that his initial interestin Swan Lake was the interpretation ofmale swans, the representation of a royalfamily and the development of two majormale dancer roles.At the heart of Swan Lake is the narrative; engaging anaudience in a piece of dance theatre, rather than puredance. In updating the storyline Bourne addresses avariety of themes within Swan Lake, all to create an endproduct that is multi layered. As will be addressed laterwithin the pack, there are characteristics of Bourne’s workthat are acknowledged in Swan Lake as well as his othermajor works; the concept of love and hate, sexuality, thecomplexity of characters and their need to fit into society.THE ROYAL FAMILYWhen Swan Lake was created by Bourne in 1995, it wasa time of enormous interest in the Royal family and inparticular the young Royals. Although there are clearreferences to the duties of members of a generic royalfamily, there are also characters and situations that echoreal members of the Royal family. Bourne acknowledgesthat Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York links to the role ofthe Girlfriend, particularly her inability to pursue Royaletiquette. Bourne also states that research into KingLudwig II of Bavaria influenced the development of thePrince’s character; his fascination with swans and hissexual confusion whilst trying to conform once again tothe expectations of being a Royal figure head.ACTIVITYIn groups of five, select three of the dutiesundertaken within the section that the studentshave seen or create some alternative tasks thata member of the Royal family might have toperform. Create a way of presenting each royalduty in turn where students become the public,objects as well as members of the Royal family.The focus is on transformation, reflecting thepassing of time and varied activities, as Bournedoes in his Royal duties section. Bourne uses awaltz step pattern as a key transition motif butset the challenge for students to explore differentways of travelling from one transition point andspace to another.PAPARAZZI AND THE MEDIAConnected to the theme of being a member of amodern Royal family is the idea of being a focal point,the centre of media interest. From an early stagewithin the work the Prince shies away and shieldshimself from the press and paparazzi that intrude intohis life. We see this particularly in the early stages ofhis Royal duties as well as when he exits from the club.ACTIVITYACTIVITYWatch the opening section of Act One: Scene Two –The Palace and ask the students to identify each ofthe Royal duties that the Prince has to perform withinhis role as the public face of the Royal family. Alsoencourage the students to discuss how Bourne useselements of narrative drama by using performersto become objects and identify how movementtransitions are used to get from one duty to anotherand to different areas of the stage space.Discuss the influence that the media and inparticular the paparazzi can have on influencingsomeone’s life. Diana, Princess of Wales maybethe most obvious example, show the studentsdifferent images that capture her on film indifferent situations and experiencing variedemotions. In groups of three research someonewho currently captures a lot of media attention andcreate a mood board using photographic imagesthat capture the different feelings and emotionsexperienced by that person, particularly the publicand private side of the person.MATTHEW BOURNE’S SWAN LAKE RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS AND STUDENTS 6