The Red Shoes written by Hans Christian Andersen was first published on 7th April 1845. Andersen explained the origins of the story in an incident he witnessed as a small child. By his report, his father was sent a piece of red silk by a rich lady customer, to make a pair of dancing slippers for her daughter. Using red leather along with the silk, he worked very carefully on the shoes, only to have the rich lady tell him they were trash. She said he had done nothing but spoil her silk. "In that case," he said, "I may as well spoil my leather too," and he cut up the shoes in front of her.
The play can be read on many levels: as a folk or fairy story about some magic footwear or as a parable about desire and the evils of vanity, as a story of isolation and and alienation in society, or a tale about women's lives, or indeed all of the above and more. It's a story about longing, of getting what you want and then having to live with the consequences, whatever they may be. As the witch says in the epilogue, it is the fate of "those who dare to dance a different dance".
This particular version was first performed by Kneehigh Theatre Company in 2000 and revived in 2010, THE RED SHOES was one of the company's distinctive early successes. The performance was devised from poems written by Anna Maria Murphy, and the story told through physical theatre, dance, music, costume, props, set design, stage imagery.
For your interpretation you are asked to consider all of the above methods of story telling as well as the addition of using aerial performers as part of the production. The Red Shoes has been adapted by the Austin based aerial arts collective Sky Candy into a cirque noir aerial ballet and by London based Upswing as an outdoor non text based Chinese Pole production.
You are asked to read through the play several times and make notes on the characters. You are asked to research the play and its origins and its many visual interpretations wthin dance, music, theatre and film. You should research into all aspects of the visual arts for inspiration.
As well as devising an interpretation of the piece, you are asked to consider the performance space, whether it be site specific, or a touring production, or indeed within the confines of a theatre. We will discuss the possibilities as a group. From there you will build a 1:25 set model and produce a ground plan.
You should design costume for the following:
THE GIRL
LADY LYDIA
THE SOLDIER
THE SHOEMAKER
THE PREACHER
THE ANGEL
THE BUTCHER
THE OLD LADY
THE PREACHER'S WIFE
Work required: research files for costume and set, edited research, sketchbooks of costume design development and set design development, 9 final costume illustrations with fabric samples and technical drawings. White card model of set, completed coloured model of set, 1:25 ground plan.
