Noel Streatfeild’s tale of three talented foundlings growing up in a fossil-filled house in ’30s London hasn’t been out of print since it was published.
Kendall Feaver refreshes the much-loved book for contemporary sensibilities without damaging its quirky Britishness, and Frankie Bradshaw’s vertiginous set of specimen cases evokes the dusty splendour of an interwar boarding house.
The company of Ballet Shoes at The National Theatre. (Image: Manuel Harlan)
It’s essentially a fairytale, grounded in a relatable story of four young women pursuing their passions and finding their way in life.
Orphan Sylvia arrives at Great Uncle Matthew’s house as an 11-year-old, and in a series of deliciously staged adventures, the archaeologist brings back three babies to raise – with the help of redoubtable housekeeper Nana. (Jenny Galloway).
They are Pauline, Posy and Petrova Fossil, and when Justin Salinger’s eccentric GUM goes AWOL, Pearl Markie’s now grown up Sylvia has to roll up her sleeves and take in lodgers, while the girls go off to stage school, because amazingly it’s free.
The cast of Ballet Shoes perform a Futurist A Midsummer Night’s Dream. (Image: Manuel Harlan)
The trio may not always get on, but a Jazz-loving American dancer, a flinty Sapphic English professor, and an Indian mechanic, each help them realise their dreams.
In an unpreachy way, this alternative family bond over saving their home by performing in plays and variety shows, including an hilarious Futurist A Midsummer Night’s Dream in which the concept suffocates the Shakespeare.
Rudd ensures that each girl gets her moment.
Yanexi Enriquez as Petrova Fossil in Ballet Shoes. (Image: Manuel Harlan) Grace Saif’s feisty Pauline learns the importance of characterisation in acting, Tomboy Petrova (Yanexi Enriquez) bucks gender norms and learns to drive, and melodramatic Posy – the brattiest of the three (Daisy Sequerra) – learns discipline from Madame Fidolia (Salinger again) to finally dance en pointe.
With an able supporting cast, the show delivers uplifting moments – as when Nadine Higgin’s Theo Dane shares the sheer joy of dancing; humour in the budding relationship between thwarted artist Sylvia and Sid Sagar’s likeable Jai, and touching, as Madame Fidolia’s poignant backstory is relayed as a dazzling dance within a play.
As with previous National hit The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Rudd brings a flowing inventiveness to a page to stage translation, ending with a coup de theatre involving that unlikely of destinations; Croydon.
Ballet Shoes runs at The Olivier at The National Theatre until February 22.
