Great Performances: The timeless fairy tale about a young girl cursed to sleep for 100 years was written by Charles Perrault in 1697. Tchaikovsky and choreographer Marius Petipa used the story in 1890 to create what has became a legendary ballet. Bourne takes 1890 as his starting point, setting the christening of Aurora, the story’s heroine, in the year of the ballet’s first performance: the height of the fin-de-siecle period when fairies, vampires and decadent opulence fed the gothic imagination. As Aurora grows into a young woman (Hannah Vassallo), time moves forward to the more rigid, uptight Edwardian era; a mythical golden age of long summer afternoons, croquet on the lawn and new dance crazes. Years later, awakening from her century-long slumber, Aurora finds herself in the modern day; a world more mysterious and wonderful than any fairy story. Matthew Bourne’s haunting new scenario is a gothic fairy tale for all ages. The traditional tale of good vs. evil and rebirth is turned upside-down, creating a supernatural love story, across the decades.

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