Theatre News

Matthew Bourne's The Red Shoes to receive world premiere

The production is based on the award-winning film and Hans Christian Andersen fairytale

Ashley Shaw as Victoria Page
Ashley Shaw as Victoria Page

New Adventures have announced that Matthew Bourne's production of The Red Shoes will receive its world premiere at the Theatre Royal Plymouth in November 2016.

The show, which is based on the award-winning film by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger and the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale, centres around Victoria Page, a dancer who is torn between her ambition to dance and her desire to love.

Bourne said at the launch that The Red Shoes, staged to mark the 30th anniversary of New Adventures next year, would be a pure dance piece. "I think people will fall in love with it," he said.

The choreographer added that, unlike his piece Sleeping Beauty, the story of The Red Shoes is less well known. "Our job is to introduce people to the film and the story and the music."

Australian dancer and New Adventures Principal, Ashley Shaw, will create the role of Victoria Page. Shaw is currently starring in Bourne's Sleeping Beauty and has had roles in other Bourne shows such as Nutcracker! and The Car Man.

The adaptation will feature a new score arranged by New Adventures associate artist, Terry Davies, who will use the music of Hollywood composer Bernard Herrmann who has worked with the likes of Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles and Martin Scorsese. The music will be played live for the first three venues.

Bourne commented: "It has been a long held ambition of mine to bring The Red Shoes to the stage as a dance/drama… It has also long been an ambition of mine to bring the incomparable music of Bernard Herrmann to the stage. It has been fascinating to discover how much of this music lends itself to story-telling through dance and this production will, I believe, be the first full length ballet to celebrate his unique music."

The Red Shoes will open at the Theatre Royal Plymouth on 21 November, after which it transfers to Sadler's Wells from 6 December to 29 January and then tours.