By Debbie Djordjevic
Matthew Bourne breathes new life into The Red Shoes, a story of obsession and love.
This gorgeous new production at London’s Sadler’s Wells theatre, is based on the Hans Christian Anderson fairy-tale and Academy Award-winning movie of the same name that has captivated audiences and readers for many years. Now Matthew Bourne has taken this story and created a ballet that is visually stunning and beautifully choreographed.
We follow the story of Victoria Page who simply lives to dance and yet is torn between two men, both of whom drive her further in her ambitions. She dreams of becoming the greatest dancer in the world and we are introduced to her as a young ballerina, fresh from ballet school and in love with a struggling composer, Julian Craster. Their love is overshadowed however by Boris Lermontov, a ballet impresario who is in love with her and wants to control both her life and her career. He gives her the lead in a new ballet, The Red Shoes, and this story within a story plays out for our hapless heroine as the shoes once worn, don’t allow the dancer to ever stop dancing. The story perfectly illustrates the extremes that artists will go to and how ultimately chasing something that is really beyond reach can result in madness and death.
This production is not without lightness and humour however, there are brilliant little scenes on the beach in Monte Carlo and in the ballet school that come alive due to the clever set and brilliant costumes.
Somehow Matthew Bourne has managed to make it all feel very cinematic, capturing the spirit of the 1948 film by using traditional costume and make-up, warm lighting and rich red and gold sets. The audience gets to really ‘feel’ the backstage in this production, the intensity before a performer goes on stage, the applause, the passion – it’s all captured within this two hour performance.
The score continues to set the tone of old Hollywood by using the music of composer Bernard Herrmann who worked for Orson Welles and Martin Scorsese amongst others. It is happy and playful in places, heart-wrenching in others and the orchestration often interacts with the performers on stage in a way that is not often seen.
Matthew Bourne’s works are a great introduction to ballet if you haven’t been before. They entertain and tell stories for a modern audience who are looking for something fresh and not too worthy however there is plenty to keep seasoned ballet goers happy too.
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Matthew Bourne’s The Red Shoes is at Sadler’s Wells until the end of January when it will be on tour throughout the UK until May 2017.