Sir Matthew Bourne
Matthew Bourne is firmly established as the UK’s most popular and successful choreographer and director. He is the creator of the world’s longest running ballet production, a record-breaking nine-time Olivier Award winner, and the only British director to have won the Tony Award for both Best Choreographer and Best Director of a Musical.
Matthew started his dance training at the comparatively late age of 22 and danced professionally for 14 years. As Artistic Director of his first company, Adventures in Motion Pictures, from 1987 until 2002, Matthew created many signature works (including Spitfire, Nutcracker! Highland Fling, Swan Lake, Cinderella and The Car Man). Further hit productions were created when New Adventures was launched in 2002 (including Play Without Words, Edward Scissorhands, Dorian Gray, Sleeping Beauty, The Red Shoes and Romeo and Juliet). New Adventures quickly became the UK’s busiest and most successful dance company and the major exporter of British dance across the world.
Matthew is also an award-winning West End and Broadway choreographer; a 30-year relationship with producer Cameron Mackintosh has resulted in the globally successful musicals Mary Poppins (which is about to embark on a major UK Tour), My Fair Lady and Oliver! He has seven honorary doctorates and in 2018 received an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters from University of Oxford. He is also an Associate Artist of Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London and Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles.
He has been recognised by over 50 international awards, including The Hamburg Shakespeare Prize for the Arts, The Evening Standard Award, South Bank Show Award, Time Out Special Award, Drama Desk Award, six Los Angles Drama Critic Awards, The Critics Circle Special Award, the Gene Kelly Legacy Award and the Astaire Award for Dance on Broadway. In 2007 he received a Special Theatre Managers Association Award for services to dance touring and audience development. Following the OBE in 2001 he was knighted in the Queen’s New Year honours in 2016; in the same year he was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award in recognition of his outstanding services to dance.
Recent work includes directing Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends (soon to be seen in Los Angeles and on Broadway) and his latest work for New Adventures The Midnight Bell, which premiered in 2021 and went on to win the National Dance Award for Best Modern Choreography in 2022. He recently directed the new hit production of Lionel Bart’s Oliver! for Chichester Festival Theatre followed by its transfer to the West End for Christmas 2024.
Photo: © Hugo Glendinning