Dance visionary brings 1930s London to the Brighton stage

SussexWorld

Dance visionary Matthew Bourne brings The Midnight Bell to the Theatre Royal Brighton (July 30-August 2), conjuring the smoky backdrop of 1930s London.

Transcript

00:00Good afternoon. My name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. Lovely this

00:06afternoon to speak to Dominic North. Now you are on the way to Theatre Royal Brighton with Matthew

00:13Bourne's The Midnight Bell. The Midnight Bell is going to be in Brighton from Wednesday, July the

00:1730th to Saturday, August the 2nd. And you were saying it's such an intriguing show with so much

00:23in it. What's it all about? And what does it owe to Patrick Hamilton, the author and playwright?

00:30Yeah, it is an interesting piece. And it's full of complex characters and relationships that are set

00:41in The Midnight Bell, the pub from his novels. And it brings characters from his various novels together

00:48in an exciting way, I would say. I'm trying not to give any spoilers.

00:52No, don't. But it's all set at a particular time, isn't it? Set in the 1930s?

00:57Exactly. Yeah, in Soho in the 30s.

01:00And what sense do you get of what London was like back then? What's the world that we're going into?

01:10Quite dark and I don't want to say mysterious, but there's elements of and undertones of

01:22real life or real people.

01:29It sounds very intriguing. Who are you in all this? Who do you play?

01:33I play a waiter. My name's Bob.

01:36I'm kind of a... What kind of champion is he?

01:39Yeah, he's a happy-go-lucky. He's hard-working and he's just a nice guy amongst all, amongst

01:50it all. Although he falls in love with a lady who doesn't reciprocate that love, really.

01:57It's... And there's another lady that I work with, the barmaid, who is in love with me.

02:05So I'm in kind of a love triangle sort of thing. Yeah.

02:08And for you, it's the latest chapter in a long time with this company. You've been with the

02:12company 22 years, which says it all about how you feel about the company, doesn't it?

02:17Why is it good to work with Matthew Bourne?

02:21Oh, it's just an incredible company to have been a part of. It's so rewarding and I've had a very

02:32varied career and I managed to do a lot of different shows and big roles. And it's been, yeah,

02:39just doing something that you love for a job is very lucky. So I think it's... You try and hold

02:50on to that as long as you can, maybe.

02:51Absolutely. Well, brilliant. Really lovely to speak to you, Dom. Good luck with everything.

02:57Matthew Bourne's The Midnight Bell, Theatre Royal Brighton, Wednesday, July the 30th to Saturday,

03:02August the 2nd. Great to talk to you. Thank you.

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