Ballet Shoes: 'magnificent' show 'never puts a foot wrong'
Stage adaptation of Noel Streatfeild's much-loved children's novel is a Christmas treat

For its big Christmas show, the National Theatre has cooked up an absolute treat, said Nick Curtis in The London Standard. Noel Streatfeild's much-loved children's novel "Ballet Shoes" (1936) is about three female foundlings who are adopted by an eccentric paleontologist, and brought up, during his long absences, by his niece on the Cromwell Road in London.
Posy is a budding ballerina, Pauline is a gifted actress and Petrova proves to be a natural mechanic, who dreams of being a pilot. This first major stage adaptation, written by Kendall Feaver and directed by Katy Rudd, honours the spirit of the book, but is also its own thing – and it works brilliantly. "Suffused with gung-ho spirit, exuberance and larky wit", it is a celebration of plucky young women and "never puts a foot wrong".
Feaver and Rudd have done a "magnificent job", agreed Sarah Crompton on What's on Stage. Their imaginative staging bursts with heart and soul, and "makes a story that is full of love for the self-realising powers of theatre and dance into a transformative experience in itself".
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
In one lovely touch, said Alice Saville in The Independent, the evening starts with a chorus of dancers in teal tutus flooding the auditorium, teaching the children ballet moves and then using costumes to "create the world of the play in richly detailed, dreamlike style". Similar care is lavished on "each and every scene" in a production that is as "delicately balanced as a dancer en pointe as it leaps between its period setting and the present", enriching the tale in ways that "never feel lazy or jarring".
Frankie Bradshaw's set design is a thing of wonder, said Clive Davis in The Times – a "Harry Potter-ish evocation of a rackety London home that is part boarding house, part cabinet of curiosities".
The performances, too, are terrific across the board, said Dominic Cavendish in The Daily Telegraph – and the whole thing has a dizzying lightness of touch. There are tickets left for later performances, but be quick: once word spreads, I predict "a very un-balletic stampede to the box office".
National Theatre, London SE1. Until 22 February
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
'This is a humanitarian, developmental and moral emergency'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
July 29 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Tuesday’s political cartoons include a ghostly presence, fiery rhetoric, and more
-
How did Qatar become the world's peacemaker?
Today's Big Question Strong relationships, ideological pragmatism and neutral positioning has made the tiny Gulf state 'the diplomatic capital of the world'
-
The Coldplay kiss cam affair: a cautionary tale
In the Spotlight The pair became 'the most googled people on the planet' after getting caught having an affair at a Coldplay concert
-
Connie Francis: superstar of the early 1960s pop scene
In the Spotlight The 'Pretty Little Baby' and 'Stupid Cupid' singer has died aged 87
-
Friendship: 'bromance' comedy starring Paul Rudd and Tim Robinson
The Week Recommends 'Lampooning and embracing' middle-aged male loneliness, this film is 'enjoyable and funny'
-
6 head-turning homes for town house living
Feature Featuring a roof deck with city views in South Carolina and a renovated Harlem brownstone in New York City
-
Bookish: delightful period detective drama from Mark Gatiss
The Week Recommends 'Cosy crime' series is a 'standout pleasure' in an Agatha Christie-style formula
-
Music Reviews: Justin Bieber, Wet Leg, and Clipse
Feature "Swag," "Moisturizer," and "Let God Sort Em Out"
-
Film reviews: Eddington and Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight
Feature A New Mexico border town goes berserk and civil war through a child's eyes
-
Art Review: Hilma af Klint's What Stands Behind the Flowers
Feature Museum of Modern Art, New York City, through Sept. 27