Acclaimed choreographer Matthew Bourne will add another award to his long list of honours in April when he receives this year’s Special Award at the Olivier Awards with Mastercard.
Widely seen as one of the theatre’s most innovative and ground-breaking choreographers, Bourne will join Judi Dench as the holder of the most ever Oliver Awards when he collects his eighth Olivier Award at the Royal Albert Hall on Sunday 7 April.
Announcing Bourne’s Special Award, Kenny Wax, the president of the Society of London Theatre said: “The Society of London Theatre is delighted to acknowledge Matthew Bourne’s extraordinary achievements in dance with this year’s Special Olivier Award. Matthew has transformed the landscape of dance in this country and across the globe with his bold, innovative and popular work, loved by audiences around the world.”
Knighted in the Queen’s New Year Honours in 2016 for his services to dance and awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award in recognition of his outstanding services to the art of ballet, Bourne is credited with changing the face of dance across the UK and across the world.
In 2002, with co-director Robert Noble, Bourne launched New Adventures, an innovative dance company which is now a hugely influential exporter of British dance around the world.
With the company, Bourne has premiered iconic productions including Edward Scissorhands, Sleeping Beauty and The Red Shoes, Bourne’s critically-acclaimed and multi-award-winning, reworking of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s visually stunning movie about a doomed ballerina.
In May, New Adventures will present the world premiere of Bourne’s twelfth full-length production, Romeo and Juliet, a re-imagining of the ultimate romantic tragedy that will feature New Adventures’ regular performers alongside the finest emerging male and female talent selected following a nationwide talent search.
Bourne has created choreography for several major musicals, including Cameron Mackintosh’s productions of Oliver! and My Fair Lady, the National Theatre’s revival of South Pacific, and the 2004 production of Mary Poppins (with Stephen Mear) which returns to the West End later this year.
Past recipients of the Special Award include Kenneth Branagh, Stephen Sondheim, Judi Dench and Ian McKellen.
Angela Thomas
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