It was ten years ago that Kneehigh first performed this interpretation by Emma Rice of Hans Christian Andersen’s twisted fairytale. My friends who saw it have not stopped talking about it since. And so as I bought my ticket for this revisit to one of their finest successes, I felt a sense of apprehension in case it did not live up my high expectations. I was not disappointed.

An aesthetic of the displaced pervades everything. The cast carry old fashioned suitcases and are dressed in grimy pants and vests. Their hair is shorn as though to combat an infestation of lice. The show unravels as a series of games presided over by a shabby looking dame who picks players from the ensemble as though selecting children for a playground football team. Proceedings are complemented throughout by the talents of two excellent musicians who are seated on the edge of stage and only slightly better attired sporting suit jackets to hide their shameful underwear. Combining dance, music, physical theatre and subtle elements of slapstick, the team tell the story of a girl who dares to wear sin red dancing shoes to church and is then condemned to dance unto death.

The piece’s real strength comes from its constant humour. This is squeezed from every single opportunity, be it in the form of a gentle nuance or a cheery attitude to mutilation. A particular favourite of mine were the two brief interludes when ‘Justine’, played by another bald and decrepit male member of the anonymous seeming cast, provided forgotten music hall turns of levitation and dire escapology.  Performed badly these could come across and pointless and dull deviations from the central story but instead their hilarity maintains a charming and delicate sense of playfulness. It is as though it is the telling of the tale that drags the players into ruin, but they revel in their demise as the girl does in the temptation of her footwear.

Patrycja Kujawska, playing the girl forced to “dance a different dance”, is worth a special mention for the ferocious persistence of her performance. Compelled to dance demonically throughout most of the show, her stamina is admirable. This is a wonderfully dark yet touching drama. Now in their 30th year, Kneehigh continue to be masters of their particular style of theatre. Long may they reign.

Now touring.