Intoxicated tales from darkest Soho, Matthew Bourne’s The Midnight Bell

In 1930s London ordinary people emerge from cheap boarding houses nightly to pour out their passions, hopes and dreams in the pubs and fog-bound streets of Soho and Fitzrovia. Step inside The Midnight Bell, a tavern where one particular lonely-hearts club gather to play out their lovelorn affairs of the heart; bitter comedies of longing, frustration, betrayal and redemption.

Matthew Bourne’s The Midnight Bell is inspired by the work of the great English novelist and playwright Patrick Hamilton (Twenty Thousand Streets Under The Sky, Hangover Square, Gaslight) who created some of the most authentic fiction of his era; stories borne out of years of social interactions with the working man and woman at his favourite location – the London Pub.

The Midnight Bell premiered to great acclaim in 2021 and received five nominations at the 2022 National Dance Awards, with Matthew Bourne winning the award for Best Modern Choreography and Michela Meazza for Outstanding Female Modern Performance. 

Matthew Bourne said today “The Midnight Bell with its entangled tales of lonely souls, looking for love, was rather appropriately the piece that brought us back to National touring following nearly two years away due to the covid pandemic in 2021. At that time audiences and company were masked and socially distanced but immensely grateful to be back and particularly with a piece that explored the deep-rooted need for human connection. Touring was necessarily limited and audience confidence still slowly returning so I am particularly thrilled to be bringing back this heart-felt piece and to be presenting it in many venues for the first time. This was a truly collaborative work with all of my celebrated creative team delivering their very best work, along with an all-star cast of the cream of New Adventures most beloved stars along with the best of our emerging talent. We look forward to, once again, opening the doors of The Midnight Bell in 2025… please join us… mines a gin and tonic!”

Matthew Bourne once again joins forces with the Olivier and Tony award-winning team of Terry Davies (music), Lez Brotherston (set and costume design), Paule Constable (lighting design) and Paul Groothuis (sound design). 

The cast features fourteen of New Adventures’ finest leading actor/dancers in roles that challenge and reveal the darker reaches of the human heart.  They are Cordelia Braithwaite, Reece Causton, Glenn Graham, Daisy May Kemp, Hannah Kremer, Michela Meazza, Andy Monaghan, Liam Mower, Dominic North, Bryony Pennington, Edwin Ray, Danny Reubens, Ashley Shaw and Alan Vincent.

About Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures

Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures is an iconic, ground-breaking British dance-theatre company, famous for telling stories with a unique theatrical twist. Since 1987 New Adventures has changed the popularity of dance in Britain, creating works that have altered the public perception of what is possible when it comes to telling stories without words.  

New Adventures is a charity, and its principal funder is Arts Council England. As well as producing award-winning work which dazzles audiences across the globe, we are passionate about the development of emerging talent and increasing diversity and representation in dance. During 2023-24, we delivered 137 talent development sessions to 2,453 attendees. We offer an extensive range of pathways into the company and wider industry for promising young dancers, including Cygnet School, our pre-vocational programme, Swan School, a residency for invited dancers, pro-classes, and workshops.

In our 2023-24 season, 334,500 people attended 277 performances as an audience member, 25,000 saw a New Adventures production in the cinema and there were over 1.4 million engagements with our online content. Audiences had the opportunity to experience 3 on-stage productions from New Adventures: Sleeping Beauty, Romeo and Juliet and Edward Scissorhands. 1,200 children and young people across 32 schools and youth / performing arts groups across the UK explored the choreography and themes of Edward Scissorhands as part of our Schools Tour. In addition, we shared our outdoor touring production, Doorstep Duets, with thousands of people in South East England. Working with around 30 partner venues across the UK each year, New Adventures presents its work in more large and mid-scale venues than any other dance company in Britain.