Lord Of The Flies (Matthew Bourne)

As we enter State Theatre, the set features a partially open roller door, backstage centre. White light beams in from outside the roller door and smoke billows onto the stage from this entrance. We also hear the sound of a rowdy mob in the distance, smashing stuff. Suddenly the house lights snap out and the Lord Of The Flies cast charge through the smoke, roaring.

Terry Davies' score is set to loud and the boys, all dressed in neat school uniforms at this point, launch into marching patterns with impressive military precision. The lighting on stage is dim and the choreography features alternating counts, which breaks up unison while cleverly emphasising patterning. This young cast is extremely well-rehearsed.  

To fully appreciate the merits of this production, you need to consider the process. A grassroots community outreach program was put in place, throughout Victoria, at the end of last year to source raw local talent from which a company of more than 20 boys and young men were selected. Re:Bourne - the charitable arm of Sir Matthew Bourne's (OBE) own British Dance Company, New Adventures - partnered with 25 community organisations across Victoria to hold workshops from which to source Lord Of The Flies' corps.

No previous experience was required and, while these participants don't get paid, they're given invaluable experience and the chance to kickstart a career in dance or physical theatre through this not-for-profit production. Impressively, some of the boys who were trained through the inaugural program in Britain have since gone on to train and dance professionally in productions such as Billy Elliott (appropriately enough) on The West End.  

This is the first time Lord Of The Flies has been performed outside of the UK and three outstanding professional dancers (from the UK) - Dominic North (Ralph), Luke Murphy (the asthmatic, myopic Piggy) and Dan Wright (Jack) - ably lead the charge, joined by six professional dancers from Australia: Jordan Bretherton (who puts in an emotionally assured, standout performance - backed up by impeccable technique - as Roger), Shay Debney, Damian Meredith, Taylor Scanlan, Kyall Shanks and Patrick Weir.

Matthew Bourne's New Adventures relocates the setting of William Golding's classic novel from a desert island to an abandoned theatre in the present day (the boys search for a mobile phone signal during Act One) and at no point during this show do we feel as if we're watching a company containing non-professionals. Lez Brotherston's set design featuring multilevel scaffolding, which the boys negotiate with ease, almost like a familiar playground, and countless coats hanging from wheelie racks, presents Scott Ambler with countless choreographic opportunities and some of the sequences are more parkour than dance. Dancers infiltrate the audience space, stalking the aisles, and we feel as if we're being held captive. The immediate physical differences in principal dancers North and Wright see them perfectly cast as gentle intellect Ralph and the more burly Jack respectively.     

Those with no previous knowledge of the Lord Of The Flies story could find the narrative hard to follow. A mallet is used instead of the conch and the beast/fighter pilot bear similarities. As paranoia intensifies, a single spotlight is used to great effect and illuminates specific characters or groupings. After a wild pig is hunted down, we notice the boys' school uniforms are now in tatters. Act One comes to a close with the image of a slaughtered pig's head on a stick, eerily lit by a single spotlight.

Act Two commences with a descending full moon, multiple dancers bring the pig's head to life as we feel like we're hallucinating. Davies' score swings from hopeful to sinister and barbaric as the various factions within this group of school boys grapple with their own sanity. The quality of movement changes to reflect the savagery of Jack's gang and if some of the younger boys in this cast could see what they're portraying it would probably give them nightmares. Ambler's choreography showcasing the 'twins' Sam (Taylor Scanlan) and Eric (Shay Debney) produces some standout moments, but it's really North's characterisation and the way he reflects Ralph's internal struggle through movement that pulls focus. Some impressive displays of acro elevate fight scenes. Just how the spatial awareness necessary to execute some of these complex sequences was drummed into these newcomers is awe-inspiring. We're held in a sustained state of anticipation/terror until the roller door opens at show's conclusion and a gas-masked figure wanders in before the boys file out towards the light.      

For some of these cast members, this is the first time they've ever performed on stage in front of a packed house and their expressions, and body language, as they look out and process their first standing ovation during the curtain call is moving beyond belief.

Matthew Bourne's Lord Of The Flies plays till Apr 9 at the Arts Centre Melbourne.