'What's wrong with wanting to dance?'

When an orphaned young woman is taken in by some local do-gooders, she is expected to be seen and not heard.

Dazzled by a pair of beautiful shoes, she sees in them an opportunity to shine – but soon her feet betray her, taking her to places she does not wish to go.

Nancy Harris's version of The Red Shoes is a contemporary retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's extraordinary fairytale of dance, desire and destruction. It was first performed at the Gate Theatre, Dublin, in 2017 and revived in the version published here in 2024 at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, by the Royal Shakespeare Company, directed by Kimberley Rampersad.