Matthew Bourne and New Adventures year long celebration

Matthew Bourne and New Adventures (formerly Adventures in Motion Pictures) have announced a year long celebration of work and special events to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the company's first performance in 1987.

Throughout their anniversary year, New Adventures will play over 300 performances at a record 32 UK venues, several of them more than once. This will include 20 weeks (over the 4 productions) at the company's resident home Sadler's Wells. The productions will feature over 80 dancers and 30 musicians.

The four productions at London's Sadler's Wells are:

Nutcracker 6 Dec 2011 to 22 Jan 2012.

Spitfire / Town and Country / The Infernal Galop (Triple Bill) 21 to 26 May 2012. (Tickets on sale 14 Nov). Spitfire was Bourne's first hit in 1988. Both a celebration of masculine vanity and an affectionate comment on the preening grandeur of the classical male dancer, it hilariously places the most famous 19th Century ballet showstopper in the world of men's underwear advertising and mail order catalogue photography. Town and Country - Remembered as the piece that most crystallized the Bourne style; gloriously witty and ironic but also strangely moving and heartfelt. It explores notions of national character from a bygone era through the evocative music of Edward Elgar, Noel Coward and Percy Grainger, amongst others. This 1991 two part dance revue features a high speed version of the classic film, Brief Encounter, a furtive encounter between two repressed gents, a jolly clog dance with a violent conclusion, a daringly wild ride on children's scooters and an eccentric version of Pomp and Circumstance plated on the ukelele! The Infernal Galop - A breakthrough hit in 1989, this 'Franglais Spectacular' was inspired by icons of France in the 1930s and 1940s; Edith Piaf, Charles Trenet, Tino Rossi, Jacques Tati etc. Through a series of surprising and saucy vignettes this is France as seen by the uptight English imagination with all the traditional clichés joyously paraded for our entertainment and climaxing in Offenbach's inevitable Can-Can!

Play Without Words 12 July to 15 Aug 2012. (Tickets on sale 14 Nov). Devised by Matthew Bourne, music by Terry Davies inspired by Joseph Losey's film by special arrangement with StudioCanal, based on 'The Servant' by Robin Maugham. Chelsea, 1965. Behind the privileged facade of domestic social order lies a struggle for power, territory and sexual domination. In a suave Chelsea home an urbane master and his beautiful fiancee welcome their new manservant, Prentice. What follows will change their lives forever.

Sleeping Beauty worlds premiere - Dec 2012 (Full dates to be confirmed - not on sale yet!). Music by Tchaikovsky. New Scenario by Matthew Bourne after Perrault and Petipa. A gothic fairy tale.