National Theatre Review: 'Ballet Shoes' Soars Above the Stage

★★★★ | I must confess that I had never read or heard of Noah Streatfeild’s bestselling book before watching its adaptation on the stage of the National Theatre. But these two hours of theatre picked up a pair of ballet shoes and soared – in a stunning jeté – far above my expectations.

The play tells a whimsical story of dance, dreams, and discovery. We are first introduced to eccentric paleontologist Matthew Brown (“Great Uncle Matthew” or “GUM”) who reluctantly takes his recently orphaned grand-niece Sylvia (Pearl Mackie) under his care, at the behest of his nurse Nana. As GUM embarks on a series of exotic adventures, he brings home three new babies – Posy (Daisy Sequerra), Pauline (Grace Saif), and Petrova (Yanexi Enriquez). When GUM goes missing for six years, these adopted sisters are raised by Sylvia, whom they call Garnie (short for “guardian”), and Nana. Over time, this unconventional family expands to include various lodgers – Doctor Jakes (Helena Lymbery), Jai Saran (Sid Sagar), and Theo Dane (Nadine Higgin), who impact the children’s lives in various ways.

Justin Salinger plays Great Uncle Matthew in Ballet Shoes. Photo Credit: Manuel Harlan

The magic of this play is the balance it reckons with – between the youthful, daring optimism that the children possess and the hard realities of life. “Money”, or the lack thereof, is a word that is enunciated a lot by the characters – it is broached cautiously by Nana as she tries to explain the family’s financial plight, but also serves as the fire that ignites the sisters’ ambition to overcome their impending poverty. Money is what sends Sylvia into a mental health crisis, what causes the roof to leak, and what throws the children’s future career prospects into jeopardy.

But through it all, our characters retain the ability not just to see the silver lining, but also to guide one another in pursuit of it. The various lodgers plant seeds of inspiration in the sisters: Theo convinces Posy to take dance seriously, Petrova realises from Jai that she loves driving, and Pauline is plunged into the thespian world after conversing with Doctor Jakes. This is not a play that blithely repeats the maxim to “Chase Your Dreams!” but one that is actively aware that this dream-chasing path is neither linear nor easy. When Pauline, for example, is cast as the understudy instead of the main role in a play, she breaks down and starts to doubt herself. But Sylvia patiently reminds her that “it’s an exciting thing” to discover something one enjoys, and that she can still interpret her lines with the same vivacity regardless. 

In achieving a tone of hope that never ebbs away, Frankie Bradshaw’s set is instrumental. The Fossils’ house is filled with paraphernalia – fossils, drawings, bioclasts – from GUM’s travels, reminding us that history is crafted at the hands of discovery. This visual representation of eons and eons of the universe’s past lends force to the sisters’ vow to “distinguish [their] name so that [they] can make [their] own future in the absence of a past”. By recognising that they are not bound by anyone’s history, not even their own, they begin an incredible journey of self-actualisation. Quite literally, they begin to choreograph their own futures.

The company of Ballet Shoes. Photo Credit: Manuel Harlan

The only fault with Ballet Shoes is that, sometimes, the characters’ predicaments are navigated too easily. For instance, when Posy doesn’t get to attend the audition of her dreams, she simply races to meet a world-class ballerina and performs in front of her, immediately landing a spot in a Parisian ballet school. But any deficits in the plot are easily counterweighted by its message; after all, opportunities are fleeting and, if not grasped, could pass us by. 

The stellar performances from everyone in the cast are everything – moving, humorous, and uplifting, they perfectly embody their roles. When I walked into the Olivier Theatre on a Tuesday evening, I was expecting a remake of a popular children’s novel. What I got was so much more: a story with soul, power, and magic for children and adults alike. 

★★★★

Ballet Shoes plays at the National's Olivier Theatre until 22 February, 2025.