Photography Johan Persson

We’re sure many readers will be familiar with Matthew Bourne’s work – specifically his bold interpretation of Swan Lake featuring all-male swans. While we’d seen that production before, we weren’t previously acquainted with his show The Car Man, which is currently playing at London’s Sadlers Wells Theatre, and will go on tour through the autumn. The dancing is set to a musical backdrop of Bizet’s opera Carmen, as the title of the show may suggest, though the story is inspired by film noir classic The Postman Always Rings Twice.

Story-wise everything is quite straightforward – which, of course, is a good thing, given there’s very little dialogue and the narrative is told pretty much entirely through dance. Set in 1950s America, we’re transported to a fictional small town called Harmony; most of the action unfolds in and around a local garage with a diner attached, run by the sleazy Dino (Danny Reubens). Our protagonists are the unreasonably handsome Luca (Will Bozier), who responds to a ‘Man Wanted’ advert placed outside the garage; we also encounter the more sensitive Angelo (Harry Ondrak-Wright).