Lyndsey Winship 

Two tribes: Matthew Bourne’s Lord of the Flies kicks off

When Matthew Bourne invited non-professional dancers to take part in his new show based on William Golding's novel, the response from local lads around the country was explosive
  
  

Golding opportunity … the local amateur cast of the Salford production of Lord of the Flies.
Golding opportunity … the local amateur cast of the Salford production of Lord of the Flies. Photograph: Helen Maybanks Photograph: Helen Maybanks

'Why did we ever think this was a good idea?" mutters choreographer Scott Ambler as a barrage of boys in trainers comes thundering across the room. We're in a cramped scene-dock backstage at Salford's Lowry theatre, with 32 young men ranging in size from tiny to strapping, and it's a sea of grey jersey, beanie hats, baggy shorts and boyish noise.

In the corner, a severed pig's head on a pole offers a clue to why we're all here. It's day one of full company rehearsals for a new dance theatre version of Lord of the Flies, featuring members of Matthew Bourne's New Adventures company alongside a cast of local boys aged from 10 to their early 20s – some of whom have never danced before. They've been rehearsing separately, but this is the first time the two tribes have met – with only 10 days before they'll be together on stage in front of an audience.

The production started life in Glasgow, three years ago, when New Adventures was asked to run a project to engage young men who wouldn't normally set foot near a theatre, let alone think of performing in one. From a standing start, taking part in the show has proved life-changing for some – one member of the Glasgow cast now has scholarship offers from four dance schools.

For their part, Bourne and his company were so pleased with how the project went that they decided to try it again, thinking at the time that they would visit, perhaps, three or four more cities. The current tour will take in 13. "People are very hungry for it," says Bourne.

At each venue there will be a new local cast. The Manchester production received 600 applicants for 24 places. That's not just hungry – that's famished. There's even talk of taking the production to Australia and the United States.

The adaptation of William Golding's classic 1954 novel has been jointly devised by Bourne and his regular right-hand man Ambler for Re:Bourne, the New Adventures outreach programme. But its creators are adamant that it can't just be a good community project, that it has to stand up as a show in its own right.

"I don't think that's ever been achieved on such a large scale," says Bourne, who knows it's his name on the posters and his reputation on the line. "Our aim is the highest artistic standards we can achieve," he says. "Not, 'Oh, they're quite good, for non-professionals.'"

They've "brought the A-team to the game", according to Ambler, with Bourne's longstanding designer Lez Brotherston and soundman Paul Groothuis on board. Developed closely with Golding's daughter, Judy, the show sticks faithfully to the book, with one major exception – rather than crashing on an uninhabited island, the boys are trapped in a deserted theatre, during a time of civil unrest. So when they go off to forage for food, they come back with sweets and ice-creams, rather than coconuts and bananas.

Back at the Lowry, where the boys are trapped only for the afternoon, the local cast includes 14-year-old Matthew Allen from Stockport, who had never danced before he was picked for the project. "I think it was a fluke that I got in," he says. After the initial physical shock to the system, he's a convert. "Now that I've been entered into the world [of dance], it's just amazing; it feels so spontaneous."

The pros have been impressed by the new boys. "I've not even thought about them as non-professionals," says dancer Layton Williams. "They seem to be on a level where we can get straight on with it."

Bourne is more reticent. "Every time there's a new group, suddenly it feels like a shambles," he says. And they're pushed for time. "That amount of energy in the room, the questions, the noise, the patience...," says Ambler. "Normally when you're choreographing it takes about an hour to do a minute's worth of work. Here, you're talking about an hour to do maybe 15 seconds. So you're a bit up against it."

Although there's less stigma about boys dancing than there used to be (thanks in part to the boom in hip-hop on television and in schools), it's still a rare experience for dancing males to be in the majority.

"For some of these lads, when they go to once-a-week dance class, it's usually them and 20 girls," says Ambler. "To be in a room full of lads is quite an eye-opener for them. And the kind of brotherhood that develops, it's quite moving."

There's a real sense of camaraderie between the pros and novices, with plenty of blokeish handshakes – and tangible positive testosterone, far from the murderous fights and factions of the story they're portraying. An all-male cast changes the atmosphere in the room in other ways, too. Rising methane levels, for example. "Oh, so much farting." says Williams. "I've never known anything like it!" Ambler had to lead a team-talk before the local cast arrived: "Don't swear, and stop competitive farting!" But now the new boys are in, everyone's on their best behaviour. Williams confirms: "I haven't smelled a fart all day."

Bourne-again dancers: Lord of the Flies – in pictures

 

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