In 1987 Matthew Bourne founded the original incarnation of his dance company, Adventures in Motion Pictures.

In 1988 Spitfirewas created, Matthew Bourne's first hit that hilariously places the most famous 19th century ballet show stopper in the world of men's underwear advertising. 

The Infernal Galop was first performed in 1989 and is France as seen by the uptight English imagination, with all the traditional clichés joyously paraded for our entertainment and climaxing in Offenbach's inevitable Can-Can!

Town and Country was created in 1991 and explores notions of national character from a bygone era through the evocative music of Edward Egar, Noël Coward and Percy Grainger, amongst others. 

The piece received an Olivier Award nomination in 1992 for Outstanding Achievement in Dance. 

Deadly Serious was first performed in April 1992 at The Arnolfini, Bristol. The production is a Hitchcock inspired piece and was presented like a film. Part One was in black and white and Part Two was in colour. 

Matthew Bourne's Nutcracker! was originally created in 1992 and toured the UK in 1993, including a Christmas season at Sadler's Wells.

Highland Fling first premiered at The Arnolfini, Bristol on 26 April 1994 and made its London debut at the Lilian Baylis Theatre later that year. 

It subsequently played London seasons at The Place Theatre and a three-week run at The Donmar Warehouse in Covent Garden. Due to the popularity of Danny Boyle’s film at the time, the piece was dubbed 'Trainspotting - The Ballet'!

Awards this year for Nutcracker!:

• Nominated for Best New Dance Production - Olivier Awards
• Nominated for Best of the Edinburgh Festival Awards - The Scotsman

Swan Lake was first performed at Sadler's Wells on 9 November 1995 where it ran until 25 November. 

It then gave its first UK tour in 1996 transferring to the West End on 11 September 1996 at the Piccadilly Theatre. Here it ran for 120 performances - the longest run ever known in London for any production of a full-length dance classic.

SWAN LAKE AWARDS:

• Winner of Best New Dance Production - Olivier Awards
  
• Best Touring Dance Production - The Manchester Evening News Award
  
• Outstanding Live Performance - Gay Times Readers Poll
  
• Adam Cooper for his performance - Time Out Dance Award 

Swan Lake visited the Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles 25 April 1997 and was screened in the UK on Boxing Day on BBC2. An excerpt was also performed at The Royal Variety Show.

Following the success of Swan Lake, in 1997 Cinderella premiered at the Piccadilly Theatre, London and has broken box office records since. 

Matthew 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.  

Swan Lake premiered in New York at the Neil Simon Theatre on 8 October 1998.

The first edition of Alistair Macaulay's 'Matthew Bourne and his Adventures in Motion Pictures' was published with Matthew Bourne and Adam Cooper as The Swan pictured on the front cover. In the same year Lez Brotherston also won an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance for Cinderella.

Matthew Bourne's Cinderella had its USA premiere at the Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles on 30 March 1999. In the same year Swan Lake was also revived for a UK tour from 2 October - 11 December.

SWAN LAKE AWARDS:

• Best Director of a Musical, Best Choreography and Best Costume Design - Tony Awards 
• Astaire Award (Special Award for Direction, Choreography and Concept, Outstanding Male Dancer - Adam Cooper)
• Drama Desk Awards (Outstanding Director of a Musical - Matthew Bourne, Outstanding Choreography - Matthew Bourne, Outstanding Set Design of a Musical - Lez Brotherston, Outstanding Costume Design - Lez Brotherston, Unique Theatrical Experience - Swan Lake) 
• Outer Circle Critics Awards (Outstanding Director of a Musical - Matthew Bourne, Outstanding Choreography - Matthew Bourne, Outstanding Costume Design - Lez Brotherston)

World Premiere: 16 May at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth

Following its premiere in May 2000, The Car Man played at the Old Vic Theatre, London for an extended 19 week run from 4 September 2000 and was subsequently the winner of the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Outstanding Musical Event. The Car Man then went on a UK and International Tour in 2001/02 and including to Portugal, Amsterdam, Tel Aviv, Los Angeles and Tokyo.

THE CAR MAN AWARDS:

• Evening Standard Award (Winner of Musical Event of the Year)
• Olivier Awards (Nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Dance)

Swan Lake also toured around the world including a run at the Dominion Theatre in London's West End.

In 2002, Matthew Bourne and Robert Noble (Group Managing Director) launched New Adventures. 

Ground-breaking new productions were added to the repertoire including Play Without Words, a co-production with the National Theatre.

Play Without Words had its World Premiere on 23 Aug 2002 at the National Theatre.

Swan Lake celebrated its 10 birthday and played at Sadler's Wells from 30 November until 16 January 2005 and continued onto a UK and International Tour throughout 2005. International tour dates included Tokyo, Brooklyn, Los Angeles and Moscow.

Matthew Bourne's production of Edward Scissorhands, a delightful adaptation of the classic Tim Burton motion picture, premiered on 14 November 2005 at Theatre Royal Plymouth. It then played a Christmas season at Sadler’s Wells (11 weeks), followed by seasons in Southampton, Salford, Norwich, Wimbledon, Cardiff, Birmingham, Woking, Nottingham, Glasgow, Newcastle, Wycombe, Bradford and Milton Keynes. 

Swan Lake continued its international tour visiting theatres including Cadillac Palace Theatre, Chicago and Orpheum Theatre, LA and returned to Sadler's Wells to play a Christmas Season.

The Car Man was revived in 2007 and toured the UK opening on 18 June at Plymouth Theatre Royal.

AWARDS THIS YEAR:

• Drama Desk Awards (Winner of Unique Theatrical Experience, Matthew Bourne nominated for Outstanding Choreography - Edward Scissorhands)

In August 2008 Dorian Gray became the most successful dance production in the 62 year history of the Edinburgh International Festival. It played to over 13,000 people beating the record previously held by Mark Morris’ The Hard Nut. 

The show toured the UK until 27 September 2008.

DORIAN GRAY AWARDS:

• Winner of Edinburgh Festival's Herald Angel Award for Excellence
• National Dance Awards (Nominated for Outstanding Company)
• WhatsOnStage Awards (Matthew Bourne nominated for Best Choreography)

The Car Man UK and International Tour played, Bromley, Milton Keynes, Ravenna, Parma, Bradford, Sadler’s Wells (2 weeks), Moscow, Leicester, Sheffield, Glasgow, Wimbledon, Manchester, Cardiff, High Wycombe, Birmingham, Woking, with the final show on 21 November 2009 after 155 performances.

Swan Lake returned to New York City for the first time since 1998 and played a four-week season at the City Center.

Cinderella was revived in 2010 and first performed on 15 November 2010 at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth. The show then opened on 8 December 2010 at Sadler's Wells Theatre. It went on a major UK and European Tour until May 2011.

AWARDS THIS YEAR:

• Manchester Evening News Award (Winner of for Best New Dance Production - Dorian Gray)

Matthew Bourne's Lord of the Flies premiered on 2 March 2011 at Theatre Royal, Glasgow. A thrilling dance production based on William Golding’s classic novel. Adapted and directed by Matthew Bourne and Scott Ambler.

The action is transferred from deserted island to deserted theatre. A group of schoolboys find themselves abandoned. With no adults around they start to make their own rules and create their own civilisation, before order breaks down and the story builds to an electrifying climax.

CINDERELLA AWARDS THIS YEAR:

• Olivier Awards (Nominated for Best New Dance Production)
• Manchester Evening News (Nominated for Best New Dance Production)
• Theatre Awards UK (Winner of Outstanding Achievement in Dance)

Swan Lake in 3D was screened in cinemas on May 4 & 5 2011. The first ever 3D ballet of its kind!

Sleeping Beauty had its World Premiere on 5 November 2012 at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth. Following the premiere was an eight-week Christmas season at Sadler's Wells and much of the UK, also visiting Russia, Italy and the USA in 2013. Sleeping Beauty, at the time, was the fastest selling production in the company’s history.

Created for New Adventures 25th birthday celebrations, it completed Matthew Bourne’s trio of re-imagined Tchaikovsky ballet masterworks that started in 1992 with Nutcracker! and, most famously, in 1995 with the international hit Swan Lake. 

Swan Lake went on a UK and International Tour (including Australia) in 2012.

Following the success of the production's premiere in 2011 Lord of the Flies embarked on a UK tour in 2014, which brought together a cast of New Adventures dancers and remarkable young talent from across the UK. We visited over 13 cities and engaged over 8,000 young people in dance activity – many for the first time – and delivered 80 performances to some 75,000 audience members. 

AWARDS THIS YEAR FOR SLEEPING BEAUTY:

• Los Angeles Drama Critics Awards - Matthew Bourne winner of the LADC Choreography award, Lez Brotherston winner of the LADC Costume Award and Paule Constable winner of the LADC Set Design Award
• Ovation Awards - Winner of Best Production

The Car Man was revived in 2015 for a limited 16 week UK tour. The tour opened at The Churchill Theatre, Bromley, on 14 April 2015, with a four week summer season at Sadler’s Wells from 14 July to 9 August 2015.

Sleeping Beauty was revived in 2015 and opened on 17 October 2015 at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth, with an eight week Christmas season at Sadler's Wells. 

Sleeping Beauty continued onto an International tour in 2016 visiting Italy, South Korea, Japan, China and Singapore. It was awarded The Stage International Award in recognition of taking Sleeping Beauty to audiences across Asia, accompanied by workshops and masterclasses for a wide range of people.

Matthew Bourne's production of The Red Shoes premiered on 21 November 2016 at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth and completely sold-out before its world premiere season opened. The Red Shoes is a tale of obsession, possession and one girl's dream to be the greatest dancer in the world. Victoria Page lives to dance but her ambitions become a battleground between the two men who inspire her passion. The show continued to tour the UK throughout 2017 and went over to the US with seasons in Los Angeles, Washington DC, Charlotte and New York City.

AWARDS THIS YEAR FOR THE RED SHOES:

MANCHESTER THEATRE AWARDS 2017 
Nominated for The Robert Robson Award for Best New Dance

OLIVIER AWARDS 2017 
Winner of Best Entertainment
Matthew Bourne winner of Best Theatre Choreographer

HOSPITAL CLUB'S H.CLUB 100 AWARD 
Ashley Shaw winner of Theatre & Performance

BROADWAY WORLD UK AWARDS 2017 
Nominated for Outstanding Achievement in a New Dance Production

NATIONAL DANCE AWARDS 2017 
Matthew Bourne for ‘The Red Shoes’ nominated for Best Modern Choreography 
Ashley Shaw as Vicky Page in ‘The Red Shoes’ winner of Outstanding Female Performance (Modern) 

LOS ANGELES DRAMA CRITICS AWARDS 2017
Matthew Bourne winner of the LADC Choreography award
Lez Brotherston winner of the LADC Costume Design award
Paule Constable nominated for the LADC Lighting Design award

Matthew Bourne’s Early Adventures returned in 2017, to celebrate the company's 30th birthday. 

Early Adventures then toured the UK and to Madrid and Los Angeles from February to May 2017 as part of the company's 30th anniversary celebrations and included The Infernal Galop, Town & Country and Watch with Mother.

To celebrate our 30th birthday we brought together our three companies performing across the world for a very special short film.

AWARDS THIS YEAR FOR THE RED SHOES:
BIRMINGHAM WHAT'S ON AWARDS 2018

Nominated for Best Dance Production 

BESSIE AWARDS 2018 
Nominated for Outstanding Production Lez Brotherston (Set & Costume), Duncan McLean (Video & Projection) & Paule Constable (Lighting) nominated for Outstanding Visual Design

Following the success of the Lord of the Flies 2014 tour, the show had its international premiere at Arts Centre Melbourne, Australia in April 2017. New Adventures dancers were joined by a cast of six professional Australian dancers and young talent from across Victoria, Australia.

Swan Lake returned in 2018 touring the UK from September 2018 - May 2019 including a Christmas season at Sadler's Wells.

Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake continued to tour the UK in 2019 and is being broadcast around the world, with over 300 screenings in the UK on 21 May.

An excerpt of the show featuring The Prince and Swan duet was performed at The Olivier Awards 2019 on 7 April as part of Matthew Bourne receiving the Special Award in recognition of his extraordinary achievements in dance. 

25 May 2019 saw the final performance of Swan Lake on the 2018-19 UK Tour after 8 months, performing at 23 theatre to over 300,000 people. The show tours internationally across Asia and the US from July 2019 to January 2020.

Matthew Bourne’s Romeo and Juliet had its World Premiere on 13 May 2019 at Curve Theatre, Leicester and toured the UK until October 2019. 

The show involved over 100 young dancers on and off stage with local casts at each venue, a team of Young Associate Artists who created the production alongside the Creative Team and 15 debuts in the company, including 6 dancers who completed their final year of dance training whilst on tour with the show.

Our production of Romeo and Juliet arrived in cinemas on 22 October 2019 and is still being screened internationally. Click here to book a screening near you.

Matthew Bourne's double Olivier award-winning production of The Red Shoes returns 2019/20 for a national tour including a seven-week Christmas season at Sadler's Wells. The show opened at Theatre Royal, Plymouth on 18 November 2019 and is touring nationally until 6 June 2020. 

Coronavirus (COVID-19) tour update

Matthew Bourne's production of The Red Shoes will be available to watch in cinemas on 19 and 24 May 2020. Click here to find out more. 

Nutcracker! the sweetest of all Matthew Bourne’s treats returns in December 2020 for the first time in nine years. The tour opens on Monday 16 November 2020 at Theatre Royal Plymouth.

Click here to join us in Sweetieland!