For the past few seasons Matthew Bourne has staged a new ballet at Sadlers World, home of London’s most interesting and choreographed dance productions. Bourne’s work is also left-of-center (last year’s Sleeping Beauty had vampires in it, as way of example). This year Bourne takes on the 1948 movie The Red Shoes and brings with it a cinematic elegance.
The Red Shoes is both a fairy tale and an Academy Award-winning movie (and also the fairy tale performed as a ballet within the movie); now it is also a stage production, taking elements of both. The Red Shoes deals with the subjects of obsession, possession and the dream of making it (in this case a young girl — Vicky Page’s — aim to become the greatest dancer in the world).
The set is well-designed and continually changing. The set is designed by Lez Brotherston, and the highlight is a mobile proscenium arch that swivels between front and backstage, showing two sides of the production to audience. The lighting, set-up by Paule Constable, is also evocative, moving between the grand (for the stage productions) to grotty (the more seedy side of London’s streets during the 1940s).
As well as being visually stunning, Bourne makes proficient use of music. The production contains a new score arranged by Terry Davies, one based on the mesmerizing music of composer Bernard Herrmann, who composed the movie score and is perhaps best known for his work with Alfred Hitchcock (movies like Psycho).
Throughout the production the mood and tone vary considerably, shown through changes to the music and the set: from the south of France, to New York and London’s backstreets. The end is perhaps the most ‘movie like: futuristic, monochrome, with shadows cast to re-create the German expressionist movement. The lead dancer, Ashley Shaw, enchants and delights throughout and manages to effectively conveyor the vulnerabilities of a young dancer caught between two powerful and obsessive men.
The Red Shoes adds Hollywood glamour and passion to the dance stage. For those visiting London, the show is well-worth catching over the holiday period.
