The Red Shoes
Fairy tales in the nineteenth century did not have the Disney gilded happy-ever-afters that we expect today. In the original Hans Christian Anderson story, The Red Shoes contained sorcery, amputations and death with a large side of moral instruction. The protagonist’s happiness comes quite literally in the ever after, when an angel gives her a ‘merciful’ death after she finally learns not to be so vain.
The Royal Shakespeare Company’s offering is only marginally less dark because it doesn’t pop the heroine off in the end, but there is an axe and some runaway feet.
The story begins with Karen, our teenage heroine, at her mother’s funeral where she dances to express her grief. It’s a beautiful balletic dance that she performs with just a red shawl, the only thing she has left that belonged to her mother. As an orphan, she is taken in by some distant rich relatives whose motives are not altogether altruistic.
Her new guardians have a housekeeper, Mags, who shows her kindness, and a strange son, Clive, who has a penchant for macabre taxidermy. When Mags takes Karen to buy a new pair of shoes from a special shoemaker, her life takes a very unexpected turn.
This is a play that has a lot of great parts: Nikki Cheung who plays Karen is a superb dancer. Sylvester the shoemaker is deliciously enticing and dangerous. There are humorous nods to other fairy tales with talking mirrors and princes. Overall, we really enjoyed lots of aspects of the show.
The trouble was that it didn’t quite flow. I can’t put my finger on exactly why, but it seemed like the parts didn’t make a cohesive whole. It felt baggy, the movement from scene to scene needed to be tightened up, and some sections of the plot could have been removed altogether.
It was pretty good but I’m glad we watched it the night before Twelfth Night, because had it come after, I would have probably been a bit more damning.
Twelfth Night
Obviously, the play has already been written centuries ago. But it’s surprising how adaptable to a director’s vision Shakespeare’s plays often are. I’ve seen Twelfth Night several times, and this one, directed by Prasanna Puwanarajah, felt like an enjoyably fresh take.
I’ve always seen Feste the Fool as a peripheral character. He doesn’t even get his name mentioned on the cast list in some of the written texts – often he is just the ‘Clown’. Here, played by Michael Grady-Hall, he appears front and centre. He gets no extra lines, but there is a physicality about him which really makes him stand out. He is quite a big guy for a fool, with his shock of unruly curls and his generally gruff demeanour he has a presence that draws the eye.
His physicality also makes the troubling scene with Malvolio seem a little bit more understanding. Alongside his abilities to entertain and educate, Feste is part of the gang that play a prank on the butler that turns into a torturous nightmare. Malvolio, played excellently by Samuel West, is a sanctimonious creature, dripping with pompous disdain for almost everyone except his beloved employer. The gang, which also includes Olivia’s drunken uncle, get him to humiliate himself in front of his mistress and then later blindfold and bind him. Feste, pretending to be a curate is the only one who engages with him, and delivers his words with a viciousness that is needed for such an uncomfortable moment.
It’s not just the fool who entertains, however. The entire cast is excellent. Viola/Cesario’s frustrations at being caught in a love-triangle are convincing. Freema Agyeman brings the character of Olivia, who can sometimes be a little bit insipid, to life with a real sparkle and vivacity. Sir Toby, her uncle, is a bombastic drunkard, but again with an underlying sense of violence.
Yes, this is a comedy, but a darkly drawn one this time around. And all the better for it.
theleadlesspencil 