1. Your productions of The Car Man and Nutcracker are returning to Sadler's Wells this year. What prompted you to bring these two pieces back to London and what do new audiences of your work have to look forward to?
They are two of the most popular pieces I have ever made and there is a whole audience out there who got interested in my work through recent productions of Edward Scissorhands and Swan Lake that have not had the chance to see them. (The Car Man was last seen in London in 2001 and Nutcracker for the Christmas season 2003/4) It is also on the GCSE syllabus this year, and lots of young people are studying it at school using the BBC recording. So I thought that it was important for them to experience it live. The two productions couldn't be more different, but they are both cracking good stories and spectacular productions. The Car Man is a highly dramatic, sexy, violent and exciting thriller, whereas Nutcracker is a deliciously irreverent and cheeky take on the Christmas favourite for all the family.

2. Which piece of work are you most proud of to date and why?
I am not particularly proud of any single piece of mine, but I am very proud that my company now gives more performances each year than any other dance company in the UK. I am very proud that our audience has grown with us over the years and that we are helping to make dance/theatre a popular art form that can play successfully next to musicals and plays in theatres around the world.

3. You co-choreographed and co-directed Mary Poppins (with Stephen Mear and Richard Eyre). What challenges did this bring and what was your favourite part of the show to work on?
The main challenge was to create a brand new book musical that would delight both fans of the film and the books and also be a unique and original theatrical experience. My favourite part of the show was the hardest to crack - supercalifragalisticexpialidocious - it was completely re-invented and became a number about words and being creative. We got to create a whole new physical sign language...tough to begin with, but great fun to do.

4. What's the last thing you saw on stage that had a big impact on you?
One of the biggest thrills for me of recent times was to see the legendary singer Eartha Kitt live at the intimate Caf� Carlisle in New York. Thrilling not only to see a legend at 80, but also a performer still at the height of her powers. It was sublime and surprisingly moving.

5. What made you first want to work in the theatre as a choreographer?
I saw Angela Lansbury in Gypsy in 1973 at the Piccadilly Theatre. I was thirteen years old and it confirmed what I probably already knew - that I had to work in the theatre in some way. I would never have guessed then that it would be as a choreographer, but I fell in love with the theatre and needed to be part of it.

6. Which piece of musical theatre would you most like to choreograph / direct and why?
Gypsy! West Side Story? Though, on second thoughts, they are both pretty perfect, so why bother?

7. With The Car Man, talk us through your process from conception to opening night.
During the year leading up to rehearsals I wrote and re-wrote the story/scenario. A few months before rehearsals I started to work with designer Lez Brotherston and composer/arranger Terry Davies to form the ideas for visual feel of the production and creating a score to help tell my story. Unusually for a dance company, the dancers then get involved in research into their characters. They will watch countless movies of the period to understand the world that they are to work in and in turn will write their own life stories for their characters. Only then will we start to stage the piece and work on the choreography. All the choreography is therefore character-led and deals with emotion, intention and is at the service of the story. This took about five weeks. The work never ends, though. I am always looking for new things in my work and this revival has been substantially revised.

8. Who (fantasy or reality) would you most like to work with and why?
Fred Astaire - the greatest dancer, but most under-rated choreographer. Nijinsky - would love to have seen him in my Swan Lake! Jessie Matthews - I adore her! Ann Miller - an inspirational spirit, though I will let my friend Stephen Mear have her - he is the tap man after all!

9. If you hadn't gone into theatre, what do you think you would have done instead?
I can't imagine anything outside of theatre, but I did work in the National Theatre's bookshop very happily for nine years, so I could still be there!

10. What is next for Matthew Bourne?
I plan to work only with my company for the next few years and will make a new work next year. Wish I could be clearer about what it might be, but I am giving myself this year to come up with something. It will probably be smaller, darker and more experimental, but who knows?

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