The Red Shoes - Matthew Bourne

Copyright New Adventures/ Sadlers Wells

The Red Shoes

I will be honest, I am a massive Matthew Bourne fan and will happy show up to anything that is put be they good (Swan lake/ Sleeping Beauty) or not as good (Cinderella/ Dorian Gray). I also consider The Red Shoes film to be one of my personal favorites so you can imagine my excitement when I found out that Matthew Bourne was going to bring this magical ballet film to the stage.

  The set and costumes beautifully recreate the film and the 1940's but have their own unique stamp on the story with the performance of the ballet being in monochrome with only the girl in the red shoes in colour. They also have a revolving set (mostly consisting of  a set of theatre curtains that are turned to denote front or back stage)..  It works very well and honours the shabby chic of the original materials.

Now to the performances. Moira Shearer was Vicky Page but Ashley Shaw does an excellent job of showing the joy and passion that drives Vicky Page in her love life and her career. I felt that the rest of cast get to mould some interesting characters with Margot Fonteyn and Nureyeu being lovingly homage. However some of the classic characters from the film are not features in the ballet. it makes sense and as an ensemble the cast really show the camaraderie of the Lermontov crew. The story is squeezed in to it's short two hour running time but I was enthralled and cried at the end!! I always felt the movie left the ending a little open but  the ballet sticks to the reflection of the two act finales. I will say the train is awesome!

The music is not from the film but the early works of Hollywood composer Bernard Hermann who is famous for his collaboration with Alfred Hitchcock on Psycho and North by Northwest. This is an inspired idea as the music fits beautiful with the story being unusual but strangely reflecting the oddness of the story being told. It wasn't noticeable that this wasn't the music form the film and was also as engaging as a Tchaikovsky piece!

I would recommend checking out the plot before you come as there is no synopsis in the programme but it's not hard to follow (though lots of people sat around me had to have the plot explained). It is a one of the best ballets i have seen and really shows the strength and beauty of  the new Adventures team. Could not recommend this enough!