Sir Matthew Bourne talks ahead of The Red Shoes at Birmingham Hippodrome
It's been described as an intoxicating drama where life imitates art with fateful consequences.
The Red Shoes will dazzle senses and break hearts when it opens at Birmingham's Hippodrome on Tuesday, running until February 11.
Watch the trailer here:
The ballet, adapted from the hit film by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger by choreographer Sir Matthew Bourne, has already won lavish praise from critics, with The Stage awarding five stars and describing it as Bourne's finest achievement to date.
Bourne said: "Set in the theatrical world of a touring ballet company, it is actually about dance and dancers. The film's genius is to make that theatrical world at times surreal, larger than life and highly cinematic.
"My challenge has been to capture some of that surreal, sensuous quality within the more natural theatre setting."
The Red Shoes has inspired generations of dancers with its tale of obsession, possession and one girl's dream to be the greatest dancer in the world.
It shines the light on Victoria Page who lives to dance, only to see her ambitions becoming a battleground between the two men who inspire her passion.
Sir Matthew's new adaptation reunites the team who brought New Adventures' world-wide hit Sleeping Beauty, with sumptuous designs by Lez Brotherston (set and costumes), Paule Constable (lighting) and Paul Groothuis (sound).
This production is set to a new score arranged by Terry Davies using the music of golden-age Hollywood composer Bernard Herrmann, who is most famous for his collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles and Martin Scorsese.
Herrmann's work ranges from the witty and playfully robust to the achingly romantic and bittersweet and is played live by the New Adventures Orchestra.
"The main theme of The Red Shoes is love versus art, or career versus love," Sir Matthew adds. "It is the love story of two young artists, one a dancer and one a composer, and the fight between that love and the lure of the highest artistic achievement as represented by Boris Lermontov, the dance company's legendary impresario, who believes that you cannot be a great artist if distracted by human love.
"I have also explored how the fairytale world of a ballet company and the stories it tells can actually blend into the real life tale of love, ambition and artistic and personal fulfilment, until the two are barely distinguishable – as in the film finale when The Red Shoes seem to take over and lead our heroine to her death/suicide in front of a train on the Monte Carlo seafront." Bourne is confident that it speaks to modern audiences and will connect with fans of reality TV and with people who love dance films like Black Swan.
"In today's culture everyone is very interested in what it takes to become a great performer or artist with the likes of TV and movies such as the X Factor, Black Swan and Strictly Come Dancing highlighting this and the question of what sacrifices need to be made.
"Audiences also love a backstage story, particularly one that gives insight into the art form. However, The Red Shoes is also a love story, a highly dramatic, even melodramatic tale, populated by a cast of colourful characters, glorious dancing and music. Not only do we represent the backstage life of a dance company, we also see them in performance in a range of theatrical productions, including the full length ballet, The Red Shoes.
"However, the heart of the story is a tragic real life triangular love story, overseen by the towering Svengali-like figure of Lermontov, representing art and the sacrifices it asks us to make."
The staging for Red Shoes is spectacular and audiences at The Hippodrome can look forward to a first class collaborative effort between Bourne and his design team.
"With Terry Davies we have created a score from the early works of the genius film music composer, Bernard Herrmann.
Herrmann is mostly famous for his scores for the films of Alfred Hitchcock, but the music for The Red Shoes is taken from an earlier period in the 30s and 40s.
"I have unearthed some great dance music as well as some beautiful music from movies such as The Ghost and Mrs Muir and Citizen Kane."
Bourne remains one of Britain's pre-eminent choreographers and hopes that people who have enjoyed his previous works will also delight in his production of The Red Shoes.
"The Red Shoes is a natural development of our latest production Sleeping Beauty.
"Having completed the Tchaikovsky trilogy, it is also part of our desire to introduce new titles into the narrative ballet canon that includes Edward Scissorhands, Play Without Words and Dorian Gray."
By Andy Richardson
