Matthew Bourne’s The Car Man

Mr and Mrs Headmaster treated mrs maytrees and I to a Pizza Express
b4 the last performance of Matthew Bourne’s The Car Man at the
New Wimbledon Theatre yesterday. HM's attempts to have everything
made into pizzas from the salad nicoise to the ice cream started the
evening off on a great atmosphere of good humour and not a little drama.

The atmosphere continued and intensified with curtain up. Fantastic
choreography and dance. A small town in backwoods USA. The setting
was of the town's gas station and car repair workshop alongside Dino's
Diner. Car mechanics interwove with waitresses.
Bizet's Carmen provided the musical weave in this tapestry
of dance drama and automobiles - no words or singing. The garage was managed
by an old stick with whom his wife was obviously bored.

Two vintage American cars on stage were very imaginatively
used as were their headlights. A "man wanted"
ad was answered almost at the outset by the handsome back packer
passing through. Scenes of love, lust and jealousy
involved some men in steamy shower scenes; some fabulous dancing,
murder of the old stick and mayhem.
The jail sequences in the second half were
brilliant with the innocent victim managing his
jail break from a warden with unwanted carnal designs.

The denouement of the true murderer took place in more mesmorising dance
scenes and red paint over the Diner's shutters.

All the programmes had been sold out well before we took
our seats and no more could be bought even with ready money.
A full house too - well deserved; and being able to walk home afterwards
was an added bonus.