The Car Man: Theatre Review

The Car Man is a modern ballet by Matthew Bourne. It’s a gritty thriller, but somehow also serene and beautiful. Here’s my The Car Man theatre review.

Overview and plot synopsis of The Car Man

The Car Man is a modern ballet, often called a ‘dance thriller’ by Matthew Bourne. My The Car Man theatre review will first give a short plot synopsis, before talking about what I liked and what I wasn’t so sure about. As a dance show, The Car Man doesn’t have any dialogue. While the plot is fairly easy to follow on stage, I thought it was helpful to have a general understanding of the plot before going, so I could focus on enjoying the show.

The Car Man follows the story of a drifter named Luca as he arrives in the small Midwestern town of Harmony. Most of the action centres on Dino’s Garage and Diner. Luca’s arrival disrupts the routine of the workers and townspeople, drawing immediate attention. Luca begins an affair with Lana, Dino’s wife, while also forming a secret relationship with Angelo, a shy and bullied young mechanic. Tensions rise as Luca’s confidence and charisma unsettle the community.

When Dino discovers the affair between Luca and Lana, a confrontation occurs that ends with Dino being murdered. Luca and Lana frame Angelo for the crime, leaving him to take the blame. Angelo is arrested, while Luca and Lana manage to escape.

The second half opens with Angelo in prison. Luca and Lana are living a lavish lifestyle, but both are filled with guilt over Dino’s murder and both are trying to escape the consequences of their actions. Angelo’s time in prison becomes brutal: he is assaulted by a guard and, in the struggle, kills him. He escapes and returns to Harmony, now hardened and intent on revenge as he knows that Luca and Lana are the real murderers.

The story reaches its climax back at the garage, where Angelo confronts Luca. Their fight ends with Luca’s death – he is shot by Lana, bringing the cycle of betrayal and violence to a close.

What is the relationship between The Car Man and the opera Carmen?

The Car Man is loosely connected to Bizet’s Carmen through its music and overall mood, but it is not an adaptation of the opera. Matthew Bourne’s The Car Man uses Rodion Shchedrin’s orchestral suite based on Bizet’s score, which means that some of the music in The Car Man will feel familiar to people who know Carmen. However, there’s no singing or opera in The Car Man like there is in Carmen.

There’s also some broad overlap of themes between the two. For example, desire, jealousy, violence, and the destructive pull of passion. However, the the plot of The Car Man is entirely original and owes more to the noir novel and film The Postman Always Rings Twice than to Bizet. Bourne relocates the action to a 1950s American garage‑diner and builds a narrative around infidelity, manipulation, and revenge. While Carmen explores fate and freedom through its title character, The Car Man focuses on the arrival of Luca, whose presence disrupts a small town and leads to murder and retribution. The result is a work that feels thematically related to Carmen, and with some familiar music, but stands as a separate, modern, and darker story.

What I liked about The Car Man

I really liked The Car Man. Although it was advertised as a dark thriller, I found it surprisingly beautiful.

The dancing, music and performances

The dancing in The Car Man was superb. As a purely dance-based show, this is obviously a crucial element, and I thought it was great. Some of the dancing involved impressive acrobats, especially from the two male leads. And some great stage combat dances as well, especially towards the end. But all of the dancing was great.

Some of the partner dancing was really serene and beautiful. And even the more raunchy dances (between men/women and also men/men) were still surprisingly beautiful as well. Even though this show is dark, and deals with dark themes, there were lots of beautiful moments in the dancing as well.

The music in the show was good as well. I liked that you could recognise parts from the orchestral elements of Carmen, while seeing a performance that was so different from the original opera. It was a really clever juxtaposition of something classical with something really modern.

Telling story through dance

I was really impressed how easy it was to follow the story, despite there being not a single line of dialogue or singing in the entire show. I had read a plot summary before going, but even if I hadn’t, I think I would have been able to understand the plot. There’s enough plot to make an interesting story, while not overdoing it to mean it’s complicated to follow.

The costumes and set definitely helped tell the story. Right away, you could tell that you were in a slightly grimy Western American town. The characters all wore costumes that their characters would have worn – definitely no traditional ballet costumes! And there were good props – including the cars that became part of some of the dances.

And the set changes helped tell the story. There was a really impressive one early in the second half. The second half opens with Luca and Lana enjoying their new lavish lifestyle, having left Harmony. And then the scene changes to show Angelo in prison. There isn’t much that changes in the set – just taking away some of the more colourful posters, and then changing the lighting to harsh, darker prison lighting. But just these fairly simple changes make it so clear that we’ve gone from a luxury bar to a prison. It really helped the story feel really clear, even without dialogue, and was really impressive.

What I wasn’t so sure about

I really enjoyed seeing The Car Man. However, it felt a bit different to what I had expected before going. From the advertisements and how I’d seen it advertised, I was expecting something really shocking and gorey – it’s advertised as a dark thriller. But it wasn’t really. It didn’t feel as raunchy, shocking, gorey or ‘out there’ as I expected. I still enjoyed it – but it just didn’t hit the tone that it was advertised as.

The audience were a bit giggly in first half, which I wasn’t expecting. Again, I was expecting a serious thriller – not something to laugh at. The brief nudity in the first half got a bit laugh, but also some other scenes some some giggles. And it just didn’t feel the right tone. There were definitely fewer laughs in the second half when it got a bit more serious, but I definitely wasn’t expecting this to be a show that people would laugh at.

I think I was just expecting something a bit more out there and shocking. But actually it was a nice ballet. Ye, there were some serious themes, e.g. gay sex, murder etc – so it’s not a pretty, gentle ballet. But still, I was expecting to be just a bit more shocked. But I still enjoyed it a lot.

Would I recommend going to see The Car Man

My The Car Man theatre review is positive, so I would definitely recommend going to see it. It’s not a children’s show at all, but it also wasn’t as shocking or ‘out there’ as I was expecting. But I still enjoyed it. There was some great dancing, brilliant story-telling through dance, and a great exploration of dark themes juxtaposed with a classic music score.