Over the proscenium of the Royal Danish Theatre is the phrase “ei blot til lyst” which means “not just for pleasure”. Meow Meow’s shows, theatrical dreamscapes that are confronting and challenging, embrace this motto wholeheartedly. Theatre being a place to critique assumptions and classic narratives is at the centre of her “Hans Christian Anderson tortures little girls” trilogy: 2011’s The Little Match Girl, 2016’s The Little Mermaid and now in 2025’s The Red Shoes.
What I love
about Meow Meow’s work is that though the works are dark, she doesn’t want to
leave the audience without hope at the end. Reckoning with these old tales isn’t
necessarily about discarding them, either. It’s about how we can read The
Red Shoes now and find meaning in it that’s different than what Anderson
intended. And she literalises this through arguments with the author and
discussions with the audience, that are hilarious and generous and fully
exposing to Meow Meow as a creative person.
One of the
strongest threads through this show, in particular, is the question of how we
are able to continue to make work and enjoy theatre while the world seems to be
crumbling down around us. How, indeed, does cabaret continue to be made and sung
under creeping authoritarianism across the world.
Meow Meow
and director Kate Champion have created a rich, captivating and electrifying work that delves into the
creative mind, picks apart a story we’re familiar with and finds ways to sing
about the world that is both unsettling and uplifting. The onstage band opens
the show with a choreographed dance of upright pianos, after which one of them
drags Meow Meow out from backstage. “Round and Round” and “Why Why Why” sets
the scene for a theatremaker and world-renowned chanteuse wrestling with the
current era and her own creative struggles.
Dann Barber’s
gorgeous set and costume design puts the performers inside an aged theatre, the
musicians looking as if they have been pulled through time to be here. On one
edge of the stage is a pile of junk, a fridge, several televisions. Meow Meow explains
this is her mind at work and at one stage, an idea that is not fully-formed
emerges from the fridge (Kane Breen) and slowly she shapes this figure into a
fully-fleshed out part of the show.
Breen, an
operatic tenor, goes through an extraordinary transformation on stage and once
whole, we get to hear him sing so beautifully. But his work as an unformed
fleshy mess is truly stunning; melting and rolling around in front of our eyes.
The band (Mark Jones, Dan Witton and musical director/sound designer Jethro
Woodward) are excellent supporting players, as well as being expert musicians.
Meow Meow
takes us by the hand (sometimes pinching purses and mobility aids along the
way) to deconstruct The Red Shoes, a story she has most difficulty with
because Anderson makes dance a punishment, when she sees dance as so freeing. She
delivers an incredible vocal performance throughout, delivering renditions of an
eclectic array of songs like Fiona Apple’s “Not About Love” and Feist’s “A
Commotion”, alongside standards like “You Are My Destiny” and “You Always Hurt
the One You Love”.
I’ve seen
Meow Meow (and her alter ego, Melissa Madden Gray) a lot over the years, but
after each time I see her, I feel like we don’t see her enough. She works the
world over, because her shows are so universal, especially these ones where she
slowly pulls apart works that we have known since childhood. It’s a spiritual
experience, watching Meow Meow sing and dance and argue with Hans Christian
Anderson.
Meow
Meow’s The Red Shoes
is a hell of a way for Malthouse to close out their 2025 season. Don’t miss it.
- Keith Gow, Theatre First
The Red
Shoes is playing
until December 6
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