Sheila Burnett

Alan Vincent and Saranne Curtin in Matthew Bourne's dance theater work "Play Without Words," which opens March 15 at the BAM Harvey Theater.

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Joseph Losey’s 1963 film "The Servant," scripted by playwright Harold Pinter, tells a sinister tale of the scheming title character (played with nasty gusto by Dirk Bogarde) who gradually begins controlling his master’s very existence. Set in the modishly swinging London of the early ’60s, "The Servant" doesn’t seem to be the kind of movie anyone would necessarily think to make into a dance-theater piece.

Well, think again.

Director-choreographer Matthew Bourne - who created a sensation several seasons ago on Broadway with his all-male "Swan Lake" - which picked up three Tony Awards as the rare ballet to make it big on the Great White Way - comes to Brooklyn for the first time with his newest work, "Play Without Words," at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Harvey Theater March 15 through April 3.

Bourne explained via e-mail from England just how he turned Losey and Pinter’s "The Servant" into "Play Without Words."

"When I watched the film years ago, I thought it would make a great, intimate piece," he wrote. "It’s almost a series of duets about changing relationships. So that’s where the idea came from."

Bourne was also struck by the film’s specific period setting, which is as much a character in the story as the people.

"I just love the whole period of the early ’60s," wrote Bourne. "The big changes in society happened in the late ’60s: this was the beginnings when people were stuck in their old ways but there were twinklings of the revolution that was to follow. I find that time so interesting. There’s a certain amount of repression, of keeping secrets - it’s great to play with dramatically. Suggestiveness through movement works better than blatant sexuality."

To be sure, "Play Without Words" is not merely a straightforward adaptation of the film, so those who are expecting to see "The Servant" recreated onstage will be sorely disappointed.

"While I wanted to recreate a sense of the story, I did not feel completely tied to it," Bourne noted. "So when we made the piece the company and I all watched many, many films from the era to really learn about the way people moved in those days, what they wore and how they held themselves.

"This gave us our characters, and it was through close improvisation that we gradually found ways to tell the story of the piece," he continued. "For example, the idea of having several people onstage at the same time playing the same character came from an improvisation in which I asked the company to [pair off] and try doing the same thing. What I saw were several good ideas all coming to life at the same time."

"Play Without Words" reunites Bourne with composer Terry Davies, with whom he collaborated on "The Car Man: An Auto-Erotic Thriller" for the London stage a few years ago. Since the current production has no dialogue, all of the action, story and characterizations must rely solely on the choreographed movement of the performers and Davies’ joyous jazz score.

Bourne is enthusiastic about working with Davies again.

"Terry and I work together in a completely organic way," he wrote. "If you are working with a composer, he can help out with certain ideas by altering or adding a new moment musically. And it’s what’s so great about working with a living composer: collaboration.

"Terry did a great job. I didn’t imagine that jazz could be so dramatic and varied," Bourne continued. "We both worried at the beginning that it would wash over people in a very pleasant, smoky kind of way, like late night piano - great to listen to, but could it tell a story? Happily, Terry’s music is supremely theatrical and every piece sounds different to me. You are very conscious of the music because, without dialogue, it becomes the words or the thoughts."

"Play Without Words" marks the first U.S. appearance of Bourne’s newly established company, New Adventures, which he created in 2002 to perform all of his independent theatrical work. Even as this piece earns many raves and new audiences, Bourne is thinking of his company’s future endeavours.

"As long as I still feel that I can tell a story through movement, then there are endless possibilities for [us]," he wrote. "I am constantly seeing and imagining new things for the company, and a show like ’Play Without Words’ is wonderful, as the process of making it shows me each time how much more is possible for the art form to convey. We are in discussions about making a stage dance version of ’Edward Scissorhands’ later this year."

Now that sounds like yet another unlikely concept that Matthew Bourne will turn into a stage original.

New Adventures production of "Play Without Words" will be performed at BAM’s Harvey Theater, 651 Fulton St. between Ashland and Rockwell places in Fort Greene, from March 15 to April 3; evening performances are at 7:30 pm, Saturday matinees at 2 pm and Sunday matinees at 3 pm. Tickets are $25-$75.

BAM’s Spring Gala is opening night, March 15 at 7 pm, with tickets ranging from $300 per couple for the pre-show cocktail reception and performance and $1500 per couple for the reception, performance and post-show gala dinner.

For more information, visit www.bam.org or call (718) 636-4100.

©2005 Community Newspaper Group