Matthew Bourne's 'Dorian Gray'

Dorian is a waiter at a private party who is seduced by a photographer and then rockets to fame as a glamour model advertising a new aftershave ("I was working as a waitress in a cocktail bar..." springs to mind). Lots of sex, drugs and rock'n'roll later and he's a dissolute rake involved in murder and death - queue the paparazzi. All the stereotypes are in here, all very meedja and the cult of the celebrity, the glory of beauty and youth, rampant mansex on vodka (the drugs were introduced in the next scene) and everyone dances round and poses in their pants at some point (except the leading lady).

Sadler's Wells is the venue for this brand spanking (ooer) new production from Matthew Bourne and the man himself was there tonight in the foyer. Sadlers Wells is a great venue and everyone gets a good view of the action on the stage. The staging was quite simple but effective, a turntable on stage changing the background scene almost every few minutes. This led to the main characters doing lots of walking and posing around the turntable - there was an awful lot of posing on stage.

The messages about media, celebrity and debauchery were drummed in with little subtlety. A short scene with Dorian on the Jonathan Ross Show with Four Poofs and a Piano was quite amusing but by that time I'd already got the message. There were lots of trademarked Bourne moves, with dancers sliding over one another and pulling odd shapes but I don't mind recognising some of his standard moves since they're good anyway. The music was a bit so-so in places - I didn't like the techno at the beginning for the photo shoot (itself a bit of a stereotype) but some of the more raucous guitar-driven rock tunes were good.

I won't spoil the ending for you by rehearsing it here but the *real* ending came after the dancers made their bows and the house lights came up and out from the speakers boomed Adam Ant's 'Prince Charming', a perfect way to end the show! The chorus of, "Ridicule is nothing to be scared of ... Dont you ever stop being dandy, showing me you're handsome..." is a wonderful note to leave the theatre to, a final joke from Mr Bourne!

Since it's a new production then there aren't many photos available yet so I've been on Matthew's New Adventures website and found some photos from Edinburgh by Bill Cooper to give you a flavour of the pants-filled sex-obsessed production. I invented a new word for gay rampant mansex at half-time over a beer - gampant!

Much kudos to Richard Winsor as Dorian, Michela Meazza as the lady PR exec and sometime lover and to Aaron Sillis as the photographer who makes and ultimately breaks Dorian as he descends into meedja hell.

'Dorian Gray' doesn't have the joy and elation of 'Swan Lake' or 'Nutcracker' but I'd like to see it again. I've got no doubt that I'll see lots of things on that stage I didn't see tonight - multiple viewings usually pay dividends.