‘The Red Shoes’ is instantly intriguing, as the audience walks into the performance space, they notice a set of cube shelves stacked up, nearly covering half of the back wall. These boxes are filled with record players, records, smart shoes and shoe boxes, this instantly gives the space an old and kindly feel. Covering the rest of the wall is a cityscape made up of silhouettes of houses, and an orange evening sky glow.

Based on the Danish fairy tale ‘The Red Shoes’, this adaptation performance by the Red Rose Chain Youth Theatre neatly presents a message that greed can corrupt even the most innocent using comedy, from children brandishing spades as weapons to a few hilarious and well executed dance sequences. In ‘The Red Shoes’ some characters find themselves in some tricky situations thanks to the red shoe craze spreading through their town, shoes that aren’t quite what they seem.

The one mistake made was dealt with very well, becoming just another joke. The performance could’ve improved if some of the relationships within it had been given more substance, however, this can only come with more performance time, and more rehearsal time, which, given the ages of the actors in the youth theatre (12-19) would probably not be possible.

The acting on a whole could use some fine tuning, however it was a good performance from young actors, and very entertaining.

Tom Davies, student at East Bergholt High School