Matthew Bourne’s Bizet-inspired ballet ‘The Car Man’ returns to London - get tickets now

13 July 2026, 06:00

By Classic FM

@ClassicFM

Fasten your seatbelt! ‘The Car Man’ is roaring back into town...

Matthew Bourne’s dazzling ballet The Car Man returns to London’s Sadler’s Wells Theatre this summer, for a strictly limited run.

Loosely based on Georges Bizet’s opera, Carmen, the ballet has a thrilling and instantly recognisable score, using iconic melodies including ‘Toreador’ and ‘Habanera’ to tell its story.

Bourne swaps Spain for the American Mid-West in his interpretation, setting the ballet in the 1950s in a small-town greasy garage-diner. When a dark and handsome stranger rolls into town, the residents are driven into an unstoppable spiral of greed, lust, betrayal and revenge.

The music contains plenty of melodies you’ll recognise in ways you may not have heard before, written by composer Terry Davies and featuring Rodion Shchedrin’s Carmen Suite, composed for the Bolshoi Ballet in 1967.

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One of the 21st century’s most in-demand choreographers, Bourne’s distinct style often sees well-known and beloved stories subverted with a new and unexpected twist. Alongside The Car Man, one of his best-known works is the all-male Swan Lake, to Tchaikovsky’s reworked music.

The Car Man received its premiere in 2000 at Plymouth’s Theatre Royal, earning a Laurence Olivier Award nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Dance. The production toured internationally the following year, across Europe, Japan, and the United States.

A unique revival of The Car Man came to London’s Royal Albert Hall in 2022 as part of the venue’s 150th birthday celebrations, receiving critical acclaim and nightly standing ovations.

Please note that The Car Man contains scenes of a sexual nature, brief male nudity, strobe lighting and gunshots. Age guidance 12+.

The Car Man appears at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London, from 28 July to 29 August 2026. Book tickets now.