Interview: Liam Mower Talks Matthew Bourne's CINDERELLA

Liam Mower is currently playing the Angel in Matthew Bourne's Cinderella, after joining New Adventures in 2011. Liam made his West End debut at the age of 12 in Billy Elliot the Musical, as one of the original three Billys; together, they won an Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical.

Matthew Bourne's Cinderella will be screened in cinemas across the UK and Ireland on 15 May at 7pm followed by a live by satellite Q&A with Matthew Bourne. The show is currently on tour in the UK and will embark on a tour in Asia later this year.

How did you become interested in dance?

For me, it mainly started off as a hobby. I'm from a family of three boys and we're all quite sporty. As kids, we were always encouraged to do a lot of after-school clubs and activities. I'd always dabbled in other hobbies like football, rugby, baseball and gymnastics.

When I was nine years old, I went to musical theatre class because my mum's friend taught that. I was encouraged to go there and it was something I was scared about doing because of fear of the unknown, but I came away absolutely loving it.

I started off doing musical theatre and then after about a year, I was introduced into more ballet classes and dance classes. It just ended up that I enjoyed doing that too. That's how it all kind of spawned really. I knew it was something I wanted to pursue as a career because it was something I really fell in love with.

Did you have any opposition to dancing as a boy, any surprise from family or friends?

Not really. I guess it was something that came naturally to me and obviously something that I loved. Everyone, especially my family, were always really supportive in what I wanted to do, and when things got a little more serious, the older I got, my family were fully behind me. My friends thought it was a really cool thing that I was able to pursue it more as a career. I definitely had a lot of support growing up.

Obviously, at school there was some odd name-calling from certain children - understandably I guess when it's so alien to some people. No boy, certainly at my school, went to dance class. I think I was the only boy in the class for at least two years. Generally, I think people just found it cool because it was something different.

You were one of the original Billys in Billy Elliot. What was it like to make your West End debut at such a young age?

It was totally life-changing. The experience that I gathered from that was amazing. Of course, at such a young age, it's such a brilliant thing to happen to you. I remember the audition process was quite long. It was about a year, a year and a half for auditions and workshops, and then there'd be a massive break and then they'd start reauditioning again. It was quite a long process.

Obviously, thousands of boys had auditioned and I stuck around for all of it and I met boys along the way. Then I'd go to the next audition and I wouldn't see them, so I could gather that they hadn't got through. The more I got through the auditions, the more I was so driven to want to do it.

You get to meet the casting directors and the directors and the dance team. You get to meet the other boys you're auditioning with as well and we all got really close. The thought of not being cast in the show at the end of it just seemed really upsetting. I think that's what drove me to do my best. It was incredible when I finally got told I would be doing the role.

The whole experience was so valuable and brilliant. I learned so much from that, and being exposed at such a young age helped me grow as a performer. I think from Billy, I definitely realised it was something I wanted to do for the rest of my life - a career I really wanted to pursue going into adulthood.

You are the youngest person to be awarded an Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical. [Mower is the youngest of the three boys who shared the role and the award] What was that like?

We couldn't believe it had happened, to be honest. Even to be nominated was just incredible. You're in a category of all these amazing actors who have trained and worked their whole lives for this moment and it felt like we'd only just begun. It was such an honour to be nominated, we couldn't believe it.

When we actually won it, it was kind of a "Can you slap me across the face?" moment. We were so young and it just didn't seem real. The other people in our category were all accomplished, amazing actors, so we couldn't believe we'd snatched the gong. We were so over the moon.

What sort of dance training have you done?

During Billy, I went to the Royal Ballet School. I trained through some of my process there. I ended up leaving the school because doing both at once was too challenging. I had to make a decision and pick between them. At the time, I felt like I was being fulfilled very much on stage, so I chose Billy.

After that, I moved back home for two years from when I was 14 to 16. My life had changed so much at such a young age and I never felt like I'd missed out, but I missed home. Obviously, I'd been taken away from that and had that distance from my family. After I finished the show, I wanted to have a bit of normality for a few years. I always knew I wanted to dance, but I just wanted a bit of time out.

I went back to normal school for a couple of years and did my GCSEs. When I was 16, I auditioned for Rambert, which is more of a contemporary school. I wanted to take that direction because I still loved doing ballet, but I loved the difference of having a ballet and contemporary training. That ethos is all about having 50-50 kind of influence in your dance training; that was what attracted me to the school.

I loved the school and where it was. St Margaret's, near Richmond, is just such a beautiful area. When I auditioned, I thought "I really hope I get in", because I just fell in love with it. Luckily I got in and had the best three years of my life. I met some lovely people and the training was so good because I felt like I was learning a lot of new things, so that experience was amazing.

What have been some highlights of your dance career?

There's been so many. I've been quite lucky. Of course I would say Billy; it's just been so special in my life. It was the first thing I ever did and such an exciting thing. Playing the title role in a new creation on the West End, I had to make the most of that because it's a special opportunity. So Billy always will have a special place.

A lot of the work I've done with Matthew [Bourne] has been incredible. The great thing about the company is there's so many opportunities and Matthew allows everyone to do such amazing work. That's why I've stayed such a long time.

What is Matthew Bourne's process like compared to other choreographers you've worked with?

He is so happy for you to take a character in your own way. He gives you a lot of freedom to develop and work in your own space. Obviously, it's a repertoire company and we're doing pieces that have been created before by other dancers in the past, so there's a foundation there to what we're doing and a story that has to be told.

With Matthew's work, it's about the narrative piece and about storytelling and that's prominent. But it's amazing that he can give us the freedom to express a character - you can develop it and change it along the way.

We're able to go up to him and say, "I have this idea. Is it OK for me to try it?". And he's like, "Try it and I'll let you know if it works or if it doesn't work". There's always a conversation happening with him, which is great.

How would you describe this production of the classic fairytale?

It's set in World War II, with the Blitz happening. There's this juxtaposition of the traditional story of Cinderella and the heartbreak that she falls in love with this [enlisted] man. It works well with the World War scene because people back then really held onto love and anything that gave them hope. I think that works with the story of Cinderella because she has hope and love. It's a great love story.

Also, within the piece, not only is it such a beautiful story, but the dance and the music are amazing as well. The Prokofiev score is beautiful. It's a brilliant production; I think it's one of my favourites actually.

How would you describe your character?

I play the Angel, which is kind of the Fairy Godmother, if you like. But obviously in Matthew's version, there's always going to be a little twist.

In this version, the Angel guides Cinderella through all the twists and turns of her journey. He represents hope. He's kind of good and bad; he manipulates what happens in Cinderella's life. He's basically there to steer her in the right direction and get her in the right place and to protect her.

How is the tour going thus far?

It's been fantastic. It flew by actually. We've been on tour since January and now it's May and it really hasn't felt like five months. It's great to get to different venues across the country and get a taste of the different audiences. They've all took it amazingly well and everywhere we've been, they've seemed to love the show. That's great for us, because we feel like we're doing our job properly.

There's some great venues. We just did two weeks in Newcastle and it's always great to do shows there. They always seem to enjoy it and they're quite raucous; they're not scared of cheering and applauding. We have six more weeks left of UK tour and then we go to Asia in August. We're all excited.

What's it like taking a contemporary dance show on tour to places where people don't often get the opportunity to see something like this?

It's great because people say that Matthew's work reaches out to people who wouldn't necessarily go see a dance production or go to the ballet. I think Matthew is a genius, because he transforms these ballet, old-fashioned, famous stories, but manages to put his own twist on them, and make it so appealing to the greater audience.

I think that's what makes his work so clever. You get people coming to a production who never go to see dance, but who just love his work specifically and only come and see his shows. That speaks for itself. It's lovely that we can share these beautiful stories in a different way.

What was it like filming the show for the upcoming cinema screening?

That was such a great experience. It was quite terrifying. We'd only had four weeks of rehearsals to get the show together and then went straight into our season at Sadler's Wells, which is obviously the big season for us because we're in London for eight weeks. We filmed it within the second week, so we'd only been performing the show a week.

It felt a bit like an out-of-body experience and brand new to have a film crew in. But it was such an amazing experience. We're all passionate about the production, so it was a nice feeling to know that we'd captured it on film. I think it transcends beautifully to film, because I find all of Matthew's work is very cinematic anyway.

How do you feel about the filming of dance?

I think it's great because I feel like, in a way, it needs to be documented. It's obviously great because it reaches the bigger audience. People put it on the TV or go to cinemas, instead of having to go to the theatre.

In other respects, I feel there's nothing more magical than going to the theatre and seeing it live in front of you. I guess with things being filmed nowadays, maybe people don't feel it's necessary to do that. But seeing it live, that's when you feel like something touches you.

Why do you think people should come and see Cinderella on tour or in cinemas?

I just think if you enjoy getting lost in a beautiful story or if you enjoy watching dance or different forms of dance, I'd definitely say Cinderella is the one for you.

What other work are you interested in doing in the future - more dance or going back into theatre?

I feel like dance is quite limited as to how much you can do. It's one of the reasons why I've done my dancing when I'm younger; it's so limited as a career with the life span.

But I also feel like it can be a career for life. While you can't perform physically when you're older, there's so much more than you can do, whether that's choreography or teaching.

I mean, you can dance when you're older, especially with dance companies like Matthew's, because they're such narrative pieces - you need younger dancers and older dancers as well, depending on what roles there are. So there are great opportunities when you get older as well.

I want to just try to dance for as long as I can and do fun projects. I like creating new pieces. I really enjoyed being in the creative process for Sleeping Beauty and The Red Shoes, and obviously when I was 12 and creating Billy. I love doing repertoire things, but I enjoy being in the studio and creating something from scratch by myself as well. I think that's brilliant and just as rewarding as performing.

Any advice for aspiring dancers?

The only thing for me is just to enjoy what you're doing. I think that's the most important thing. There's definite ups and downs in dance, and I guess generally in life. If you love it, work hard as well. But at the end of the day, if you have the love and the passion for it, that will get you through and will make you feel like you're succeeding.

Matthew Bourne's Cinderella will be streamed to cinemas on 15 May. Click here to find out if it's showing at a cinema near you. It continues its UK tour through June.

Watch an exclusive clip from Matthew Bourne's Cinderella here!

Photo credit: Johan Persson