JADAR

★★★★★

Matthew Bourne’s The Red Shoes is the first New Adventures production I ever saw. It felt poetic to return to the show after reaching the halfway point of NA’s 14 productions earlier this year, with The Midnight Bell, and ahead of going past halfway, with The Car Man, next summer. While some NA productions prioritise spectacle (e.g. Sleeping Beauty and Edward Scissorhands) and others are focused more on technicality (e.g. Romeo + Juliet and The Midnight Bell), The Red Shoes (much like Nutcracker! and Swan Lake) is the perfect balance of both.

The Red Shoes is based on the ground-breaking British film of the same name, as well as the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale upon which the film is based, which tells the story of a peasant girl who is seduced by a pair of red shoes, which take over her feet (and life). There is a ballet within the film/ballet which is more explicitly based on the fairy tale and relates to the protagonist, Victoria Page. It is very much life imitates art, à la Black Swan, which also follows the trials and tribulations of a ballet dancer on the top of her game. Both films explore obsession and dedication to craft to the point of insanity and self-sacrifice.

At the core of The Red Shoes is a love triangle: Victoria (original cast member Ashley Shaw, who is absolutely divine in everything) is caught between composer Julian Craster (Dominic North) and company director Boris Lermontov (Andy Monaghan). She loves the former but needs the latter.

One of the most iconic scenes in the film is when Lermontov asks Victoria, “Why do you want to dance?” Victoria responds, “Why do you want to live?” It’s awfully melodramatic but it cleverly captures the intensity of ballet, which demands absolute devotion. Tragically, many dancers – especially ballet dancers – find themselves injured as they age; many lose the ability to do much dancing. To some, I imagine, it feels like a death.

A memorable scene early on involves the company’s ageing prima ballerina, Irina Boronskaya (Michela Meazza), stalking the stage. She appears at the back, lit (Paule Constable) in a way that makes her look ghoulish and older than her years, evoking the limited lifespan of ballet dancers. Irina holds her dress and practices her movements on the dress (on, not in). It looks ridiculous but it reveals how much work goes into something that looks effortless onstage. Bourne pours knowledge and passion into this ballet about a ballet.

Bourne skilfully brings the film to life without dialogue. His direction and choreography make everything clear, which is, of course, helped by his masterful performers, who double as dancers and actors, evoking emotion in their movements but also their facial expressions.

The core cast is rounded off with Wil Bozier and Glenn Graham as Ivan Boleslawsky and Grischa Ljubov. New Adventures employ the crème de la crème of contemporary ballet. There is never a weak link in the cast. But the strength of the cast make it difficult for an individual to stand out. Ashley Shaw, however – even when she is not playing the lead – exuberates charisma and demands attention whenever she is onstage.

Bourne’s ballets are always expertly designed (even when they are deliberately un-lavish: Romeo + Juliet, which is set in a mental institution, is cold and clinical – and devoid of colour, in contrast to most of Bourne’s works).

Lez Brotherston’s set design is sumptuous and sensuous. The central set piece, which is used as a theatrical device, is a gilded proscenium arch that spins around the stage, allowing the audience to see both “backstage” and the fictional performances – sometimes simultaneously. This makes the scene changes more slick and fluid.

Brotherston’s costumes are similarly stunning. He has been inspired by the costumes from the film but was unafraid to insert his own vision and creativity.

One of the most memorable aspects to the film is Brian Easdale’s Oscar-winning score, which – perhaps shockingly – was not used for the ballet. It was not nearly extensive enough to tell a whole story. Bourne decided to look into music from the same period. He had already been interested in telling a story to the film compositions of Bernard Herrman, and he realised that it would work wonderfully for The Red Shoes – with the main ballet squence using music from sci-fi thriller Fahrenheit 451 (it sounds ridiculous but the music works wonderfully). Composer Terry Davies has arranged the songs beautifully.

The main ballet, in which a peasant girl dances to death, is a modernist masterpiece, with the arch gliding into the abyss as clinical white wings descend from above. The ballet-within-the-ballet is performed head-on, forcing the audience into the world of the characters. It’s powerful and intense.

There is not much that one can criticise about this show, at least not without sounding pedantic. The character Lermontov feels a little underwritten, with Monaghan’s dazzling dancing unfortunately (ironically) bringing attention to this. Some may find the dense plot and frequent scene changes to be a little overwhelming – there is so much packed into the show that it may require multiple viewings to appreciate all the fine details – but the sensory overload prevents the show from feeling voyeuristic and instead forces the audience to understand the lure of the titular shoes, and also the consequences, bringing the lessons of the film, and the original fairy tale, to the forefront. The original fairy tale now feels a bit sexist and ridiculous but the film (and this ballet) allows it to speak to today.

There is something magically meta, self-aware and cathartic about seeing a professional ballet company tackle a film about the brutality of ballet. Whilst Bourne is best-known for his radical adaptation of Swan Lake – the most successful dance theatre production of all time – I would kill to see him adapt Black Swan for the stage.

Matthew Bourne’s Production of The Red Shoes runs at Lowry (Lyric Theatre) until November 29 2025 and tours the UK until May 2026.

Photo: Johan Persson