Luca is a man on the move; however, as he heads into Harmony, a town of 375 people, he sees a sign reading “Man Wanted” and decides to stop over to try to settle in and take some work at Dino’s Garage. After setting his eyes on the proprietor's wife, Lana, turmoil begins to infect the inhabitants of this harmonious town.
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Cordelia Braithwaite’s Lana is one of a more refined style; her delicate dances have the eyes of all the boys from the garage down at the diner where she works as a waitress alongside her sister Rita. Her solo dances are captivating and beautiful, masking much of the trauma ahead as the town’s world spirals out of control due to one man.
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Finally, one of the direct cast members to mention is Alan Vincent, who has been with New Adventures since 1997 and created the role of Luca in 2000. Here, he plays Dino, and while the role requires less dancing than the rest of the cast, he brilliantly creates a fully three-dimensional character without a word. The rest of the company are equally skilled, filling the stage with character moments far beyond where the main story is being told, and this is where Bourne is a master: side moments a plenty, which you may often miss on a first viewing but which create a rich and vivid world.
The music, as expected, is a feast as well, brilliantly put together by Terry Davies from Rodion Shchedrin’s Carmen Suite (after Bizet’s Carmen). The pieces are created for the dance, rather than, as with many of Bourne’s other works, to the dance. It makes a stronger piece of work and brilliant set pieces, nothing better than the truly devastating culmination of the first act, rarely bettered anywhere.
Matthew Bourne’s The Car Man is an epic, exceptional piece of work. Tremendously easy to follow, accessible to all, and willing to push all the boundaries of a dance show. It is easily the greatest of the five Bourne shows I have seen so far, and, without any shadow of a doubt, truly recommended for all. Stunning!
Gritty and seductive, this is storytelling through dance of the highest calibre.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Performance reviewed: Tuesday 7th July 2026 at the Milton Keynes Theatre, Milton Keynes.
Matthew Bourne's The Car Man runs at Milton Keynes Theatre until Saturday, 11th July 2026, before continuing its tour.
For further details about Milton Keynes, see their website at https://www.atgtickets.com/venues/milton-keynes-theatre/
For further details of the tour, see the website at https://www.new-adventures.net/
Photographs: Johan Persson
(Images depict performers other than those mentioned in this review.)
(Images depict performers other than those mentioned in this review.)
