The Midnight Bell | The Lowry

Matthew Bourne's exploration of 1930's London certainly makes for a visually stunning piece with transfixing choreography and transformative design, yet while the dancing is effortlessly graceful and excels in its romance, it lacks the grit to truly carry the emotional weight of depression era Britain, and the clarity to convey its hazy plot.

Based on the works of Patrick Hamilton, The Midnight Bell is an atmospheric snapshot of London in the inter-war years as a multitude of relationships intertwine to form a tapestry of love united by time and place. Matthew Bourne's New Adventures production company is known for their pioneering dance shows and this latest creation is no different, blurring the line between a dance show and a play without words: what results is something akin to a silent movie. Characters mime to period recordings of jazz standards and music hall classics, while movement shifts between naturalistic acting and swift choreographed movements. It works as a piece that bridges the gap between those who enjoy dance, and those still desiring a sense of plot and explicit character.

In light of this, The Midnight Bell's greatest flaw is that it struggles to effectively convey this narrative, as left without words, dance alone feels insufficient to tell characters apart, let alone accurately communicate important plot moments. While the piece doesn't hold a conventional structure, and perhaps is more consistent with the structure of a 'concept musical', with multiple relationships to keep track of - and theatre being too distant of a medium to rely on facial recognition - one becomes weighed down attempting to keep track of who is who, and in turn resisting the immersion of what is otherwise an engaging piece of theatre. Furthermore, for as much gloomy lighting and atmospheric haze Paule Constable treats us too, the delicate dancing often detracts from the immersion of the piece; what feels like a seedy and dark setting is punctuated by movement that feels too neat. There's room to read it as the romantic serenity the couples find within each other amid the darkness of depression era London, yet there remains a feeling that the two never truly synthesise.

Additionally, it must be noted that the production uses playbacks of Terry Davies' score, rather than using a live orchestra. While the attention, naturally is on the dance, there's an undeniable understating of the piece's prestige as the dancers are forced to perform to nothing more than a backing track, removing much of the fluidity and spontaneity of Davies' music. If nothing else, its sad to see the redundancy of musicians for what one can only assume to be cost cutting and production 'efficiency', when the orchestra is historically such an integral element of ballet. While the pre-recorded nature does the score no favours, one longs for more melodic moments from the score, which for the most part varies between melancholic contemporary chords and pulsing pseudo-jazz rhythms. The moments of period music come as welcome breaks to the occasional monotony, however one can applaud the decision to avoid pastiche.

Despite its pitfalls, in isolation the choreography is delicious. In particular a charming sequence played out on a bench between a gay couple to 'The Nearness of You' is thoroughly satisfying, with astonishing fluidity, playfulness, and the perfect characterisation of human moments in dance form. The same can be said for a moment of a film played out in a cinema, in which a couple dance a soft shoe duet. Its in these small pockets of romanticism where The Midnight Bell excels, opposed to its attempts to build a larger narrative or a darker tone.

The Midnight Bell runs at The Lowry until Saturday 05th July 2025.

★★★☆☆ (3*)

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Gifted tickets in return for an honest review | Photography by Johan Persson