A sex-fueled ballet received a standing ovation at its opening in Wimbledon last night.

It is safe to say Matthew Bourne's The Car Man went down a storm at the New Wimbledon Theatre - with only one audience member seeming to be alarmed by the erotic intensity as she cried "oh my gawd" at one particularly impassioned sex scene.

Based on Bizet's Carmen - a popular 19th century opera set in a Spanish cigarette factory - The Car Man is among celebrated director Matthew Bourne's re-interpretations of classic stories.

The decade is 1960, the setting is the fictional American small-town of Harmony and the population is 375.

Frequenters of Dino's diner and garage see their small town turned upside down after the arrival of a pumped-up new mechanic.

Told entirely by music and dance, the story sees drifting mechanic Luca seduce the garage owner's wife and a fellow mechanic, forming a love triangle which spirals the town's inhabitants into a whirlwind of greed, lust, murder and rape.

It's hard to believe the pitch-perfect dancers have only had three weeks of rehearsals, with an extra few days for the lead roles, as Bourne revealed in a question-and-answer session after the show.

For anyone who's put off by the gravity of traditional ballets, this show reveals what expert ballet dancers look like when they're freestyling and having fun.

Bourne said each role is played by two of three dancers who find out close to each performance who they will be on stage with.

He said: "I think it keeps things really fresh. For me as a director it's more exciting to watch people who are different and also for the audience who are experiencing it for the first time."

Tickets are still available for the show, which runs at the New Wimbledon Theatre until Saturday. To book, visit atgtickets.com.