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Everything you need to know about Matthew Bourne's Cinderella at Sadler's Wells

by on in Features

Katrina Lyndon (Cinderella) and Reece Causton (Harry the Pilot) beneath the Spitfire at IWM London. Photo by Craig Sugden Matthew Bourne's Cinderella is back for its 30th anniversary with an almost entirely new set of principals, the same Blitz-era love story and a Christmas season at Sadler's Wells. Here is everything you need to know before you book.

Few dance productions have earned a second life as thoroughly as Matthew Bourne's Cinderella. Three decades after its premiere at the Piccadilly Theatre in 1997, New Adventures is taking its wartime reading of the fairytale on a 24-week UK tour of 17 venues, and the London stop is Sadler's Wells, where it marks the company's 24th Christmas season at the theatre.

Who is starring in Matthew Bourne's Cinderella?

Hannah Kremer and Katrina Lyndon share the title role, while Reece Causton and Rory Macleod alternate as Harry, the young RAF pilot she falls for. Three dancers take turns as The Angel, the guardian figure the company likes to call Cinderella's "Fairy GodFather": James Lovell, Andy Monaghan and Kingston Taylor.

The Step-Mother, Sybil, is danced by Michela Meazza, Daisy West and Nicole Kabera. Meazza is the thread back to the beginning: she was in the original 1997 company, and Bourne has said that every other principal this season is taking on their role for the first time.

The Step-Brothers and Sisters, and the crowd of 1940s Londoners around them, are danced by Mark Austin, Benjamin Barlow Bazeley, Tom Barnes Standing, Isabella Chandler, Carla Contini, Adam Davies, Christina Gibbs, Louis Harris, Thomas Ireson, Rosanna Lindsey, Maisie Mwebe, Matthew Petty, Matthew Potulski, Holly Saw, Molly Shaw-Downie and Shakiera Ward. Cameron Allan, Ethan Fairclough, Woody Freeman and Harry Hincks are with New Adventures for the first time. Bourne has said the company is "immensely proud" that 73% of this cast came up through its own talent development programmes, which is how a company recasts a show almost from scratch without losing its accent. The full line-up was set out when the tour company was announced in September.

What is Matthew Bourne's Cinderella about?

Bourne keeps Prokofiev's score and the outline of the fairytale, but moves the story to London in 1940. Cinderella is the overlooked member of a household ruled by her stepmother, Sybil. When a wounded pilot, Harry, appears at the door, a mysterious Angel in white guides the two of them towards a single night together at the Cafe de Paris, the West End nightclub, before the bombing separates them and she is left to search a battered city for a man she has only just met.

The setting is far more than period dressing. Prokofiev composed the music during the Second World War, and the disaster at the heart of the plot is real: the Cafe de Paris took a direct hit on 8 March 1941. Imperial War Museums is the tour's official partner, and the wartime objects that informed the designs are the subject of a conversation between the designer and IWM curator James Taylor in the tour programme.

Who is behind the production?

Matthew Bourne directs and choreographs, to the music of Sergei Prokofiev. Lez Brotherston designs the sets and costumes, work that won him an Olivier Award, and the lighting is by Neil Austin, also an Olivier winner. Duncan McLean provides the video and projection design, and Paul Groothuis the sound, which sets the score against the noise of a city under air attack. The production comes from Bourne's own company, New Adventures.

When and where can I see it?

The tour opens at Theatre Royal Plymouth on Monday 16 November 2026 and calls at Lowry, Salford, before reaching London, where it runs at Sadler's Wells from Tuesday 1 December 2026 to Sunday 17 January 2027. After the London season it carries on round the country into the spring, finishing at the Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, on Saturday 8 May 2027.

The running time is 2 hours 20 minutes, including two intervals. The production is recommended for ages 8 and over, and contains smoke and haze, possible strobe lighting, explosions, loud noises, sirens and smoking. Tickets for the Sadler's Wells season currently start at £18, and Matthew Bourne's Cinderella is booking now.

What else should I book if I like it?

  • The Snowman at the Peacock Theatre, from Saturday 21 November 2026 to Sunday 3 January 2027: another Christmas story told through dance and music, and a gentler first outing for younger children.
  • The Nutcracker from English National Ballet at the London Coliseum, from Thursday 17 December 2026 to Sunday 10 January 2027: the classical side of a dance Christmas, set to Tchaikovsky.
  • Swan Lake from the Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House, from Saturday 27 March to Monday 31 May 2027: the traditional staging of the ballet Bourne famously reinvented, for anyone curious to see where he started from.