
Matthew Bourne’s smash hit The Red Shoes returns
Matthew Bourne’s production of The Red Shoes will return for the annual Christmas season at Sadler’s Wells as part of a 2025/26 tour, for the first time since its 2020 tour was cut short due to the pandemic.
The production will play the seven-week Christmas season at Sadler’s Wells, London, from 2 December 2025 to 18 January 2026, marking New Adventures’ 23rd consecutive Christmas season at the venue. General booking opens on 5 February 2025. Further tour dates and casting will be announced shortly.
Matthew Bourne’s magical double Olivier Award-winning production of the legendary Powell and Pressburger film is set to a score orchestrated by Terry Davies, featuring the mesmerizing music of golden-age Hollywood composer Bernard Herrmann, with sumptuous designs by Lez Brotherston (set and costumes), Paule Constable (lighting) and Paul Groothuis (sound).
A timeless fairytale and Academy Award-winning movie, The Red Shoes has captivated audiences and inspired generations of dancers with its powerful tale of obsession, possession and one girl’s dream to be the greatest dancer in the world. Victoria Page lives to dance but her ambitions become a fierce struggle between the two men who inspire her passion.
“The Red Shoes was the culmination of a twenty-year ambition to bring Powell and Pressburger’s seminal 1948 film to the stage. It was also, in many ways, a personal love letter to a life in theatre and dance.
When we created the show in 2016, we were not prepared for the overwhelming response from audiences everywhere we went both at home and internationally. The production went on to win two Olivier Awards and was honoured by the LA Critics Awards for both choreography and for Lez Brotherston’s memorable set and costume design.
This production was certainly a landmark event for New Adventures, becoming an instant classic and a beloved addition to our repertoire,” Matthew Bourne, Artistic Director, New Adventures.
An intoxicating drama where life imitates art with fateful consequences, The Red Shoes will dazzle your senses and break your heart. Tickets are on sale now. Book here.
Matthew Bourne’s The Red Shoes, Image credit New Adventures