Concrete Playground

Let's put it on the record — Disney ruined fairy tales for everyone. The world does not need happy endings, or at least it doesn't require the sickly sweet endings that only a cartoon mouse force-fed a diet of high-fructose corn syrup can crap out. Someone needs to dig up the Brothers Grimm (and Angela Carter, for that matter) and get them pumping out stories that make children dream of darkness as much as they do of light.

High on the list of potential gravediggers is the Cornish company, Kneehigh Theatre, who are exploding onto the York Theatre stage with their adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's The Red Shoes. More ghastly than Elvis' blue suedes, these crimson pumps have the magical ability to make a person dance in perpetuity. So, if there's one thing this production guarantees, it's a knee-blasting dance track with some sweat-milking flesh thrashing.

Grab any child you can find and bring them to this show. If you don't, then the world will belong to Mickey and his censors forever more.