Matthew Bourne's double Olivier Award-winning PLAY WITHOUT WORDS to return

New Adventures, in association with the National Theatre, has announced that Matthew Bourne’s PLAY WITHOUT WORDS will return for its 25th anniversary with a limited 4-week season at Sadler’s Wells from 27 July until 21 August 2027. It will also play two exclusive performances at Curve, Leicester on 23 and 24 July 2027. Casting is to be announced.

PLAY WITHOUT WORDS, inspired by the 1963 film classic The Servant and the new-wave British cinema of the 1960s, is set to a jazz-influenced original score by Terry Davies played live onstage. It was an instant hit with audiences and critics alike when it was first produced by the National Theatre in 2002 and was subsequently nominated for five Olivier Awards, winning two for Best Entertainment and Best Theatre Choreographer. It was included in The Guardian’s best dance of the 21st Century, and David Benedict recently included the production in his highlights of the past 60 years of the National Theatre, for The Stage.

Matthew Bourne said today

“When Trevor Nunn asked me if I would like to make a devised piece of theatre for his farewell Transformations season at the NT in 2002, I jumped at the opportunity, telling him that I would like to try and make ‘a play without words’. This was more of a description than a title, but the title stuck and became one of the most adventurous and unique pieces I have ever made. Trevor asked all directors in the season to choose a key word as a starting point for their work, mine was ‘seduction’. Not only did we do away with words, but we added to the intrigue by casting each character two or three times over, identically dressed by Lez Brotherston, each giving a variation on the story. Inspiration came from the cultural revolution and changing times as seen through the lens of the new wave British cinema of the 1960s and most specifically one of my favourite movies of that time, Joseph Losey’s The Servant, with its brilliantly ambiguous screenplay by Harold Pinter, full of dual meanings which directly inspired the central staging idea with its multiple possibilities. I’m delighted that the show, or should I say ‘play’, is not only returning for its 25th Anniversary but also, rightly, as the centrepiece of my company’s 40th Anniversary in 2027.”

Kate Varah, Executive Director and Co-Chief Executive of the National Theatre, said today

“Matthew Bourne’s Play Without Words premiered at the National Theatre in 2002 as part of Trevor Nunn’s Transformations season dedicated to showcasing newly devised work. A deeply original piece of dance theatre, Play Without Words showcases Matthew’s extraordinary gift for storytelling through movement. We are delighted that this remarkable production will be returning for its 25th anniversary and will be seen by a new generation of audiences at Curve in Leicester, and at Sadler’s Wells in London, as well as being enjoyed by those who remember its extraordinary original run.”

Set in London, 1965, in a suave Chelsea house, an urbane master and his beautiful fiancée welcome their new manservant, Prentice. But behind the privileged façade of domestic social order lies a struggle for power and sexual domination. What follows will change their lives forever.

Devised by Matthew Bourne with music by Terry Davies, the production has Olivier nominated designs by Lez Brotherston and Olivier nominated lighting design by Paule Constable.