Meow Meow's The Red Shoes: Dance We Will and Dance We Must

In this brilliant show Meow Meow, is accompanied by tenor Kanen Breen, and musicians Mark Jones, Dan Witton and Jethro Woodward. They not only provide exquisite musical support but also help set the sardonic tone of the show through their often-comical gesture and deadpan expressions. The Red Shoes is a kind of conceptual muse for this show and the satire pivots around the societal norms that fables often direct at children to inculcate the kinds of values and norms that essentially perpetuate an array of social injustice and discrimination, especially in relation to gender.

Meow Meow clearly expresses an intense anxiety and malaise about the current state of global affairs. There is a certain strain of melancholy that underpins the show but this does not detract from her sharp, wry and witty humour. This also does not prevent her from delivering beautiful melodic songs and monologues that reflect on her concern about the greed and selfishness that she sees as the major contributors to a society that seems to have lost its way. Meow Meow is exceptional in the way she is able to marry this gloomy outlook to hilarious absurdity and irony.

The set, costuming (Dann Barber) and lighting design (Rachel Burke) in this production have a strong affinity to phantasmagoria and this is a very apt way to capture the grandeur of the production and to contextualise the nature of the music and the compositions brought together for this show. Meow Meow is captivating and alluring, and particularly compelling in her philosophical observations and perspectives. 

The opening and of this show are particularly hysterical and perfectly exhibits the current state of Meow Meow’s intense and complex psyche. This show will simultaneously have you in tears of both laughter and despair.      

Patricia Di Risio

Photographer: Brett Boardman