The Red Shoes, adapted from the Hans Christian Anderson story, runs from 3rd to 6th February at Her Majesty’s Theatre. Book at BASS.
For more information http://www.redshoes.net.au
For tickets call BASS on 131 246 or http://www.bass.net.au
Barry Lenny: Could you tell us, first, a little about yourself and Kneehigh Theatre.
Emma Rice: I was bought up in the centre of England and migrated south to find my spiritual home in Cornwall, by the sea. I moved from actor to choreographer to director – who knows what will happen next. Kneehigh was established in 1980 by Mike Shepherd. Kneehigh now finds itself celebrated as one of Britain’s most innovative theatre companies. For 30 years we have created vigorous, popular and challenging theatre for audiences throughout the UK and beyond. We work with a multi-talented team of performers, directors, designers, sculptors, administrators, engineers, musicians and writers, we like to perform with the joyful anarchy that audiences have come to expect from us as a groundbreaking theatre company.
Barry Lenny: Those who are familiar with the original Hans Christian Andersen story will find this version very different. How do you approach a reinterpretation of a well-known children’s classic such as this?
Emma Rice: I disagree. I think this version is true to the original source material. What it doesn’t do is reflect the slightly more sugary versions of more modern interpretations. I think anyone who knows the story will recognise the themes within it.
Barry Lenny: How do you decide what to keep, what to discard, what to add and what to change?
Emma Rice: This, in many ways, is the easiest bit of the process. Good things and meaningful things tend to stay, and what’s not good or meaningful naturally falls by the wayside. I start with the story, and end with the story and that gives me the only map I need.
Barry Lenny: Could you tell us more about how this production developed, who was involved, and where all of the ideas came from?
Emma Rice: The idea was very much mine, a story that felt personal and relevant to me both then and now, however, the process is collaborative, so the input of writer Anna Maria Murphy, designer Bill Mitchell, composer Stu Barker and, of course, the original and current company of actors really brought the world I envisaged to life.
Barry Lenny: Tell us about the music that you are using for the production. It seems to be quite an eclectic mix.
Emma Rice: It is eclectic. When we made the piece, my only criterion was, ‘does it feel right?’ We range from Offenbach to Drum n Bass, from Wagner to Bluenote. Somehow it all seems to work and provides a heartbeat that we don’t quite recognise but seem to know.
Barry Lenny: What can audiences expect to take away from your production?
Emma Rice: They can expect to take away a bloody good night out. What I hope they will also take away is the sense that they have looked deeper into what it is to be a human being and the choices we have to make to endure.
Barry Lenny: Finally, how would you sum up the production in a sentence or two and what should people know to encourage them to come?
Emma Rice: The show is bawdy, bold, bald and beautiful. When else do you get to see underpants and lindy hop go together!? And last but not least, it’s bloody funny.
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