Cinderella

It’s 1940, and Britain is at war with Germany. Air-raid sirens sound their warnings, and a Pathé News announcement advises citizens what to do during a bombing offensive. As we hear the opening bars of Prokofiev’s score we see black and white film footage of London in The Blitz – of crumbling buildings and homes on fire...

Whilst the original story has been reimagined for modern audiences, the core themes of this classic tale remain at the core of the New Adventures version.

Family, conflict and time, as well as archetypal literary motifs such as ‘life and death’, all play a role in this story. 

Mathew Bourne chose to set his version of Cinderella in 1940. Inspired by the knowledge that Prokofiev had written the score for the Bolshoi Ballet’s production of Cinderella during this era, influenced Matthew to focus on having World War II as a backdrop to the story.

The classic tale of Cinderella unveils itself set against the horrors of London during the Blitz, and care and attention was given by Matthew and his team, to be historically accurate.

Watch and read interviews with our creative and technical team to find out more about the inspirations behind Cinderella, the rehearsal process and the technical elements that getting a show of this scale opened. 

Meet some of the dancers from the 2017-18 tour of Cinderella. 

Ashley Shaw and Andrew Monaghan discuss getting into their characters of Cinderella and Harry the Pilot, whilst you can follow Michela Meazza, Jackson Fisch and Mark Samaras through their dancer diaries through the production process. 

Find out about how the New Adventures production differs from the original fairytale, as well as previous productions such as Frederick Ashton’s and Marius Petipa’s productions and how these have influenced the Matthew Bourne re-imagining of the classic fairytale.