The Red Shoes

In the Studio 23: The Red Shoes: Teaching Plan

This is an outline of how you might introduce students to a Kneehigh, or Kneehigh-style text. Using The Red Shoes as an example, we’ve suggested some activities to support your students in their own exploration. Remember that Kneehigh uses a palette of techniques, devices and styles, rather than approaching every play in exactly the same way.

Each rehearsal or workshop should begin with a warm-up. This could be games, a run, a dance: whatever your group finds helpful in losing inhibition and developing a strong sense of ensemble.

• Everyone reads the play independently
• In a workshop session, ask the ensemble to retell the story, in as few words as possible, from different characters’ points of view. Combine this with Kneehigh style physical games,chorus exercises, hot seating and clowning.       Identification of key themes and characters who represent them, having brainstormed words. For example. the soldier in The Red Shoes, whose face is perhaps never seen, or always be in part-shadow: a hint of the what-might-have-been.
• Other themes of The Red Shoes  include loss, destruction, a sense of propriety:  Can the ensemble think of a time period where those elements were key? In Emma Rice’s version of the play, it was decided that the characters were all people who had seen things they wished they’d never seen.  Ask the group to dress the Chorus in costumes from the resources in your drama studio. How can you create a sense of cohesion between the Chorus?
• Set a task to each create a playlist to research music of the era in which they wish to set the play., This will create very good source material for impro and choreography…
• Movement workshop: Students can be seated around the room, on a chair or near different levels and/or surfaces. Each person should come up with 5 basic movements associated with trying on a much desired pair of new shoes. Talk them through the process – “they’re patent, look at how they catch the light, what happens when you stand on tip toe?” etc. The group can then each teach their 5 moves to each other, which will create a 25 move sequence. Use music from the playlists students have created to experiment with tempo, style, mood etc. Jurassic 5’s Swing Set is a great starting point for musical exploration of this kind.  Ask the group to perform this dance, as if in different conditions: dancing in their bedroom, in a talent contest, as if embarrassed, as if everything amplified 500%, as if trying to cast off their shoes etc.
• This sequence can then be broken down into smaller motifs, which are evident throughout the piece, particularly from the girl. You can also consider how the play ends, and the way in which this dance can be incorporated.
• Cultural references also help students get into character. For the actor playing Lydia, for example, Tim Curry in The Rocky Horror Show might show the extravagance of the character.