Fasten your seat belts! Matthew Bourne’s The Car Man comes to Milton Keynes Theatre
Matthew Bourne’s award-winning dance thriller The Car Man will return for a 2026 UK tour, including performances at Milton Keynes Theatre from Tue 7 – Sat 11 Jul.
Loosely based on Bizet’s ever-popular opera, Matthew Bourne’s The Car Man has one of the most thrilling and instantly recognisable scores in New Adventures’ repertoire. The familiar 19th-century Spanish cigarette factory becomes a greasy 1950s garage-diner in the American Midwest, where the dreams and passions of a small town are shattered by the arrival of a handsome and enigmatic stranger. Fuelled by heat and desire, the inhabitants are driven into an unstoppable spiral of greed, lust, betrayal and revenge.
Matthew Bourne said: “I never dreamed when we created this show at the beginning of the new millennium that it would still be around, thrilling audiences, 25 years later! Inspired by vintage movie film noir classics, it holds a unique and special place in the New Adventures repertory as the only piece based on an opera and possibly the first ballet to feature a bisexual anti-hero! I’m particularly happy that we are taking the show “on the road” again after more than 10 years, and I can’t wait to revisit the hot and steamy town of Harmony USA – the best place to be next Summer!”
The title role of the magnetic Luca, “The Car Man”, will be played by Will Bozier and Harrison Dowzell, both former lead Swans in Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake, alongside New Adventures’ much-loved stars, Cordelia Braithwaite and Ashley Shaw as the alluring Lana. Rising stars, Leonardo McCorkindale and Harry Ondrak-Wright play the troubled misfit, Angelo, whilst Anna Maria de Freitas with Kurumi Kamayachi make their leading role debuts as Lana’s devoted sister, Rita. Danny Reubens and the original “Car Man” himself, Alan Vincent will portray Lana’s jealous husband, Dino.
Performances run at Milton Keynes Theatre from Tue 7 – Sat 11 Jul 2026. Tickets are available now. For further information and to book tickets, visit ATGTICKETS.COM/MiltonKeynes.