Matthew Bourne’s The Midnight Bell – Sheffield Lyceum

Matthew Bourne’s The Midnight Bell arrived in Sheffield with all the pomp of a bold dance show and all the sincerity of a gripping drama. This piece of theatre is aptly both – a dramatic, human tale of intimate connections won, lost, enjoyed and destroyed. 

This New Adventures production is an acerbic piece of liquid, visual storytelling. The narrative is compelling, pulling inspiration from author Patrick Hamilton’s (of ‘Rope’ and ‘Gaslight’ fame) 1929 novel ‘The Midnight Bell’. A patient meditation on love, lust and relationships set on the backdrop of the titular Midnight Bell late night drinking spot rooted somewhere betwixt the alleyways of early 20th century London. The work covers all corners of human desire in romantic and sexual relationships. We share the intimate moments of a homosexual couple who want to be together but resist themselves. The selling of sex to various men of the town by a prowling blonde bombshell provokes us to be attentive to her coiling couplings and the consequences of her business. The broken, dishonest yet seasoned relationship of an older couple is a formidable meditation on loyalty, greed, deceit and jealousy. The manic, gothic plot of a romantic with schizophrenia and their violent rage dissects the fraught danger of love and obsession, particularly where it goes wrong. All these narratives weave within one another painting a cohesive collage of interpersonal human behaviour – an image possessing of great depth and shade. Despite its dated setting, it couldn’t be more prescient. It reminds us society changes, but human behaviour often does not.

Matthew Bourne’s choreography is succinct yet far-reaching. The performers of this piece are like lightning and lake-like. Fraught with passion, numbed with morose stillness, they clamber across the apparatus of human emotion and signal their stories to each other and the audience. A thousand words are said in fleeting, chancing scurries across furniture. Poems transcribed in ever-exploring space. To avoid pretentious affectations, what makes a work like this truly effective is its reliance, and assured understanding, in the power of the human body in storytelling. Our bodies are constantly telling others what we are thinking, what we are feeling, what we want and don’t want. All the key facets of character and drama can be found in physical demonstration and interaction. Bourne’s total acceptance of this turns the indulgent into the necessary. For a tale entirely dictated by musical underscore and physical language, it is remarkably accessible thanks to its extremely potent execution.

The set of this piece is among the best in the business. At times simple and effective, at times complex and effective, you can probably guess the theme here. It delivers time and time again in two dozen different formations, painting 1930’s London with forensic accuracy yet all the dreamy intangible qualities that texture a place and a time that only exists in the human memory. Each layer is a world we want to spend more time in. Skylines palette scenes with blue and orange hues, scoring the mood of the piece with aplomb. Terry Davies’ orchestration and Paul Groothuis’ sound design is equally as impressive. Sound both placates and invigorates the drama, resonating as an intelligent, fragile and causal form. 

Matthew Bourne’s The Midnight Bell invite you to intoxicated tales of darkest Soho, and when an invitation like this comes from a team like this, you’d be a fool to not accept. 

Playing until 27th September, https://www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk/

The show moves to The Alhambra Theatre, Bradford, 30th September – 4th October, with a Post Show Event with Sir Matthew Bourne on Friday 3rd October. Please visit https://www.new-adventures.net/venue/the-alhambra-theatre for more information.

Reviewer: Nathan Dunn

Reviewed: 23rd September 2025

North West End UK Rating: