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Saturday afternoon I took the bus to Zellerbach Hall to see a
matinee performance of Matthew Bourne's The Car Man: An
Auto-Erotic Thriller. Bourne and his company Adventures in
Motion Pictures are probably best known for the gender-bending
version of Swan Lake they did a few years back, where all of
the swans were danced by men. The Car Man was another
reimagining, this time of Bizet's opera Carmen.
Instead of 19th century Spain, The Car Man sets its story in
20th-century small-town America. The already strained relationship
between Dino Alfano and his wife Lana is thrown into complete turmoil
when the handsome Luca arrives in town looking for a job at Dino's
Diner & Garage. Luca loses no time in counting his conquests,
seducing not only Lana but also her sister Rita's boyfriend Angelo.
So many conflicting passions can only lead to violence.
This was a danced play with no words spoken or sung. All of the
storytelling took place through the movements of the dancers' bodies
and the music of Shchedrin's Carmen Suite (with additional
music written by Terry Davies). Even on tape the score was familiar
and powerful enough to send chills up my arms. Add to that the drama
unfolding in the dancing onstage, and it was enough to make me
wriggle with pleasure. It was not exclusively ballet or modern dance
or theater but a combination of all three. Also, each part in The
Car Man is quadruple-cast with a different dancer in a particular
role for each performance. I would have loved to see the show twice
to compare interpretations and to see if it fit together any
differently.
Even though the second act was a bit of a downer after the exuberance
of the first, The Car Man left me in the proper mood for later
that night when I slid into vinyl pants and went off to dance and
socialize with a very sexy group of people.
It was a good weekend. Until 7pm Sunday night. But that's another
story entirely.
Adventures in Motion Pictures
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Heidi J. De Vries
