by Hans Christian Andersen’s dark fairy tale about a dance-obsessed girl is captivating, if you ignore its outdated moral warning about the dangers of female “vanity” and disobedience. Karen loves dancing so much that she is literally carried away by her shoes. This version by Nancy Harris promises to bring the story into the 21st century. Is it enough to dress the characters in modern clothing?
Marc Teitler’s music is enchanting and Colin Richmond’s sets and costumes are exquisite. But beneath the attractively modernized surface, the story clings to the old moral, subverting it only in the last lines of the play and not in a way that resolves its core sadism about a girl who dares to look in the mirror and “imagine.” about …”to have yourself”. There is also no attempt to bridge the gap between the Christian idea of vanity that Andersen wrote about and our selfie-obsessed culture.
“Sixteen is a dangerous age,” says the shoemaker (Sebastien Torkia) about the orphaned Karen (Nikki Cheung). Visually, we already see this danger in the darkness that swarms the sides of the stage and in the eerie stuffed animals that take human form, but it never manifests itself in the drama itself.
There are potentially original lines: her adoptive mother Mariella (Dianne Pilkington, played as Cinderella’s cruel stepmother) suggests that she is a foreigner, and her first dance has a non-Western aesthetic, as if from the indigenous culture of the recently deceased Karen comes from mother. This has the appearance of an idea about Karen’s cultural otherness, but it is not implemented.
There’s also the suggestion that her shoes give Karen a seductive power – even her adoptive father (James Doherty) is attracted to her, but this potentially subversive idea is quickly dismissed too.
Skillfully directed and choreographed by Kimberley Rampersad, the production is notable for its movement. As in the exquisite Powell and Pressburger film with the incomparable Moira Shearer, the production stars a professional ballerina, and Cheung’s dancing is the most hypnotic thing here.
Who is this show for? With its darkly lit atmosphere of brooding and a very adult erection joke disguised as a magic trick, there’s every sign that it’s aiming for crossover appeal. But Harris’ script just isn’t clever or charming enough for the adults and resembles a panto in its humor. The characters are flat, there are weak doggings and occasional bursts of half-songs that at least fade away quickly.
Confusingly, there are interludes from other fairy tales: a talking mirror lifted from Snow White and a prince with a shoe who wants to turn Karen into the evil Cinderella. None of this seems deeply thought through.
The iconic 1948 film gave a mature twist to the story with the creation of a controlling Svengali. Here one wishes for less obedience to the Andersen original and more inspiration from Powell and Pressburger’s darkly shimmering invention.
