Matthew Bourne’s The Car Man is currently at Sadler’s Wells. We talk to ensemble member and ex St Clement Danes student Tom Clark
The clue is in the sub title ‘Bizet’s Carmen re-imagined’. The Car Man is loosely based on Bizet’s popular opera although just how far Bourne’s imagination goes is something else. This is the fourth time Tom Clark has been part of a Matthew Bourne production but this one, says Tom, is quite different – “it’s raunchy and full of fighting.”
Tom Clark starting dancing at Carol Kristian Theatre School, Chorleywood whilst at St Clement Danes School and he has hardly stopped since.
“It’s more usual for boys to dance now because of programmes like Strictly – it wasn’t while I was at school although nobody was bothered that I danced. It was when I was studying performing arts that I really started to enjoy ballet”
So much so that it has become his career that kicked off straight from college with a part in Bourne’s Swan Lake. What he enjoys most about dance is the energy.
“I love how tiring this show is – it really gets your blood going in the first 20 minutes and gets the adrenaline up for rest of show – your heart races a lot.”
And hearts will be racing in the auditorium too. The Car Man is earthy, gritty and sexy.
“There are a couple of bits the audience do love, especially the ladies!” adds Tom.
The set is a twist on the 19th Century Spanish cigarette factory setting of Carmen which becomes a greasy garage-diner in an Italian community in a small town 1960’s America The arrival of Luca, a fit Marlon Brando type macho man who upsets the apple cart – first he seduces the wife of the garage owner then the young shy, odd job man.
The story is inspired by 40s film …The Postman Always Rings Twice and Hitchcock – hence the thriller theme with twists and an unexpected ending. The pacey, powerful music – Carmen, bar one or two pieces which are Schedrin and Bizet, sounds deliberately like a film score.
Tom plays two characters, Hot Rod and Dirk,
“In Matt’s company we mostly play two characters so if anyone gets injured they can cover.”
“As preparation we spent a day talking about our characters, where they’ve come from and what they feel. It actually helps to create the movement. You get a wide range of characters in this piece.
The set is industrial, just like a real garage and even the back stage crew wear costume to assume a character.
The whole thing is so emotionally charged, you feel totally drained. It’s a very electric curtain call!”
Matthew Bourne’s The Car Man
Sadler’s Wells. London, EC1R http://www.sadlerswells.com
Until – 9 Aug – some tickets still available
020 7863 8000
Related Articles
April 2014 Tom in Swan Lake
Place to Go: Wycome Swan
07919 102 274