Matthew Bourne’s The Midnight Bell – Review – York Theatre Royal
By Karl Hornsey, June 2025
Even by the meteoric standards of Matthew Bourne, this is a truly astonishing piece of theatre. A packed audience at the York Theatre Royal was treated to the return of The Midnight Bell, which is touring again having first come to the stage in 2021, having been conceived during and after the initial lockdown that so impacted our everyday relationships. Essentially, those relationships are at the very heart of The Midnight Bell, the title of which comes from a tavern in 1930s Soho, frequented by a selection of largely lonely and complex characters, whose stories unfold as the evening progresses.
One of the many, many things that makes this production so special, is that the stories of the 10 characters are told without words, yet there can be no doubt as to what’s developing in front of your eyes. That is testament to the strength of the intertwined tales, and the astonishing range of acting and dance movements from the cast, bringing about a power and depth of emotion that has to be seen to be believed.
“Stunning achievement”
Bourne has assembled a stellar array of talent from his New Adventures company, including the likes of Glenn Graham, Andrew Monaghan and Michela Meazza, who were part of the show first time around four years ago. The production itself is based on works by novelist Patrick Hamilton, best known for Rope and Gaslight, which were both turned into classic films, with Bourne melding several of Hamilton’s works together to create this stunning ensemble story.
The sets recreate the time quite magnificently, with the seedy hotel rooms, dance halls and eponymous Midnight Bell all transporting the audience back in time, and helping to create the atmosphere and environment that the characters inhabit. The threads of the stories focus on lost, unrequited or forbidden love, all of which had to take place behind closed doors in an era that wasn’t as openly cosmopolitan or understanding as the world in which we live today.
To choreograph those strands to take place on the same stage at the same time is a stunning achievement, with so much to take in at any one time, but such is the quality, the storylines never fail to shine or tug at the heartstrings.
“Moving moments”
As for the music, as with everything else about this show, it’s done to perfection. Alongside the original music score, there are several scenes in which the characters go all ‘Pennies from Heaven’, miming to well-known songs of the time by the likes of Ira and George Gershwin, Hoagy Carmichael and Irving Berlin, which serve to add emotion to their scenes as well as moving the storylines along.
Each one suits its moment and each one is performed to perfection, while the odd bit of humour is added even if surrounded by such moving moments. This is simply a triumph. Having loved Bourne’s Swan Lake to the point of boring everyone I know about it, there can be no higher praise than to say that this is right up there with it, and further cements Bourne’s reputation as the master of all he surveys.
‘Matthew Bourne’s The Midnight Bell’ is at York Theatre Royal until 7th June
images: Johan Persson
Karl’s love of writing was piqued at the age of eight, when he won a Blue Peter badge in an essay-writing competition. The location of said badge might be a mystery now, but the memory never fades. Hours spent writing about sport as a teenager, in pre-internet years when you had to make your entertainment, honed his skills, and Karl has worked in TV and radio listings at PA Media for 28 years, and the age of hybrid working means 50% of that can be at home listening to Classic FM and thinking about his next visit to his beloved Yorkshire Dales.
@KarlHornsey, hornskar
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