HE ruffled feathers among ballet purists with a bare-chested male ensemble in Swan Lake, and introduced strutting gobstoppers and preening marshmallows to the Nutcracker.
Now Matthew Bourne is bringing the third of his Tchaikovsky interpretations to Bradford's Alhambra theatre.
His gothic take on Sleeping Beauty turns it into a supernatural love story, spanning a century. It begins in 1890, the year the fairytale, about a young woman cursed to sleep for 100 years, was turned into a ballet by Tchaikovsky and choreographer Marius Petipa.
Matthew draws on the fin de ciecle period, when fairies and vampires fed the gothic imagination. In an imaginary kingdom, Princess Aurora’s romantic interest is not a prince, but the royal gamekeeper, Leo. Representing the central forces of good and evil are Count Lilac, King of the Fairies, and the Dark Fairy, Carabosse. Matthew has also created the character of Caradoc, the sinister but charming son of Carabosse.
The starting point is Aurora's Christening. The action later moves on to the Edwardian era, with her 21st birthday celebrations set against the long, hot summer before the dark clouds of war changed the world forever. In the final act, awakening from her century-long slumber, Aurora finds herself in the modern world.
"I was destined to do a third one," says Matthew, referring to his trio of Tchaikovsky productions. "But I wanted to make it my own. It's such wonderful, grand music but I found the story a bit dull.
"I've given the love story a twist; Aurora falls for a commoner, not a prince, and their love cuts across time. It comes from a world in which Dracula was written, the vampire element allowed me to get around why Aurora's 'prince' is the same age when she wakes up, 100 years on.
"Taking the story forward to 1911sets it in that golden summer of the Edwardian era; a time of long afternoons, croquet on the lawn and new dance crazes, and a perfect metaphor for Aurora's coming of age. It was a halcyon age, but also a time of rigid manners, and a very defined social hierarchy.
"The interval is '100 years long' then the story goes almost to the present.
"Each act has a very distinct style, allowing me to draw on different dance styles for the choreography. The first act has a classical style, and feels more like a ballet, then there's ragtime, introduced in the Edwardian period, and a more contemporary style at the end."
One of the UK's top choreographers, Matthew has received a knighthood for services to dance and theatre. His West End credits include Oliver! and Mary Poppins, and his Swan Lake, transformed into a witty tale about a lonely prince falling for a bare-chested male swan in feather britches, was hailed a theatrical landmark and became the longest-running ballet in the West End and Broadway.
The world-renowned New Adventures company's repertoire of striking re-workings of ballets and movies has introduced dance to a whole new audience. Replacing the faceless ensembles of classical ballet with lively dancer/actors, each bringing their own character to life, Matthew fuses a sense of fun, compelling storytelling and vibrant visuals, drawing in families, teenagers and people who would never normally go anywhere near a ballet.
Once you've seen a New Adventures production, you don't forget it.
And at the heart of it all is Matthew's love of cinema. Growing up in Walthamstow, he loved cinema and theatre, and didn't begin dancing until he was 22. "As a child I didn't know anything about classical music or ballet, and neither did my parents. But they took me to the theatre a lot. When I was about 15, I collected autographs and used to follow stars like Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire around London," he says.
"They came from a glamorous age, when stars stepped out of cars onto the red carpet for film premieres. These days film stars are surrounded by PR people with clipboards. They get all dressed up then they're whisked away by people talking into earpieces."
Matthew's shows are peppered with cinematic references, from setting Oscar Wilde's Picture Of Dorian Gray in London's fashion world, with Dorian partying with the beautiful people, to Car Man, transforming Bizet's Carmen into a raunchy slice of Fifties Americana, with echoes of West Side Story and The Postman Always Rings Twice.
His Sleeping Beauty draws on such films as Twilight, Interview With The Vampire, and Merchant Ivory classics like A Room with a View for the Edwardian scenes.
Would he consider creating an original piece, or does he prefer the re-working process?
"I don't think anything is original. Everything is based on something," says Matthew. "I choose stories that are quite simple and the bit I enjoy most is re-writing them and creating new characters. It's like creating a whole new story, and I enjoy creating new dance pieces, taking something like Edward Scissorhands and putting it into ballet.
"Coming to dance so late was an advantage because by that age I was already influenced by cinema and theatre. If I'd have started dancing earlier I may have gone down a singular, more purist route."
And the theatrical and dance worlds would have been a lot poorer for that.
* Sleeping Beauty runs at the Alhambra from February 23 - 27. For tickets call (01274) 432000.