Matthew Bourne’s The Red Shoes at the Liverpool Empire Review
27 June to 1 July 2017
Reviewed by Jan Mellor
Taking my 12-year-old son to his first ballet was not going to be an easy task but as “The Red Shoes” was an adaptation of a Hans Christian Anderson Fairy Story and a production by Matthew Bourne whose skills enable all ‘heavy’ storylines to be clearly understood and accepted, I thought I may be able to keep him enthralled or at least entertained. It did help that the ballet was in comparison to others – a short one (starting at 7.30 and ending at 9.30) so was an experience that could be easily absorbed.
From the onset, the simple, yet dramatic, stage prop of a revolving theatre façade was very atmospheric and the effective use of this prop to transport the audience from front of stage, to back of stage, to London, Paris and Monte Carlo was genius. “The Red Shoes” tells of a young ballerina, Victoria Page (played by Cordelia Braithwaite), who with a touring ballet dance company struggled to get any recognition until she is given music by composer Julian Craster (played by Dominic North) and a pair of ‘magical’ red ballet shoes. The company’s’ impresario, Boris Lermontov (played by Sam Archer), is very aware of the talent that Victoria holds and becomes obsessed with her, especially when she falls in love with Julian and also realises that the shoes magic is a dark one, in that once worn they do not allow the dancer to stop dancing. The story continues, with the hauntingly beautiful music from composer Bernard Herrmann (known for his scores in Hitchcock classics North by Northwest, Vertigo and Psycho, Citizen Kane and Fahrenheit 451), as the relationships between Victoria, Julian and Boris become inter-twined in a tangled web of desire, jealousy and passion. The scenery changes dramatically from ballroom, night-sky to seaside and the depiction of good versus evil, with dancers in white and black was very clever. There was an injection of comedy with two Egyptian dancers and some moments of pure sensation with some enchanting routines which stunned the auditorium into a “you can hear a pin drop” silence. The choreography was amazing, the scenery, lighting, design and costumes were a delight and the performance and skill was sheer perfection.
As we left the theatre I heard people saying, “that was incredible”, “how good was that?” and “that was so very well done”. Listening to these comments, I asked my son what he thought, he replied “the Egyptians were really good”. Well you can’t win them all, however as I left I saw a little girl walking on her tiptoes and she told me “I’m going to be a ballerina”, so, yes the show was magical. Go and see it and see for yourselves!
A fairytale of delight!
Rating: 5/5
Tickets cost from £13 to £47.90 (plus £2.85 transaction fee).
Matthew Bourne’s The Red Shoes is at the Liverpool Empire from 27 June to 1 July 2017, for more information or to book tickets visit www.atgtickets.com/liverpool or call the box office on 0844 8713017.
Liverpool Empire Theatre, Lime Street, Liverpool, Merseyside, L1 1JE | 0844 8713017
