MOLLY SHAW-DOWNIE and Matthew Bourne’s THE RED SHOES

Interviewer Pat Hayward 10th February 2026

Ahead of Matthew Bourne’s The Red Shoes opening at Mayflower Theatre on 10th March, Overture’s Pat Hayward had the opportunity to chat to one of Matthew Bourne’s stars Molly Shaw-Downie about the journey a local girl from Winchester took to achieve her dream of telling stories through dance.

Could you tell me a little bit about The Red Shoes.?

Yes, I’m currently dancing in Matthew Bourne’s The Red Shoes, which comes from the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, which was made into a film by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger in 1948. Basically, it’s about choosing between your love for dance and the love of your life and all of the difficulties that the choice presents. Realistically it’s about your art form and what you’d sacrifice for it. Matthew Bourne created his version of the story which premiered in 2016 . And what he created is a really cinematic, beautiful piece of theatre. Yes, it’s about passion and love for dance and for your art form and what you’d give up for it.

Molly, could you tell me a little bit about your part in the production?

So I play Lady Neston, who is Victoria Page, the leading lady’s aunt. So she introduces Lermontov, who’s the head of the ballet company, to Vicky to hopefully allow her to live her dreams and be in Ballet Lermontov, the ballet company. But that’s not all, I also play a few other roles. I play Joyce, who is in the same audition as Victoria Page and unfortunately isn’t quite as successful. So that’s a really fun character to play. And then I’m Edith, who is the wardrobe designer, wardrobe mistress. And again, a really great character for a role. And she features in a lot, behind the scenes of the Lermontov ballet. So we’ve got the set designers, the choreographers and all that kind of stuff. She’s in those scenes. And I also get to dance within the Red Shoes ballet as well. So within within the show, I have four different roles, which is really, really fun, constantly changing costumes, changing wigs and changing mindset and characteristics and stuff. So it’s really, really great to do.

You’ve been with Matthew Bourne for around three years, what attracted you to the company in the first place?

I think the main thing is the storytelling and how beautifully Matthew Bourne’s productions tell a story. I think it’s so easy when you’re seeing the wonderful bits of artwork and theatre work at ballet, and the dancing is always so beautiful. But the storytelling is what we’re really there for, what really captivates us. And the way he narrates this with all the gorgeous movement and the choreography, along with the beautiful music, It was everything that I wanted to do. I love being on stage. I love dancing. I love storytelling. I love ballet, contemporary jazz. It kind of merges all these different worlds together and hopefully, really makes the audience feel something, whether they’re laughing or crying. Hopefully they’ll go away definitely feeling something from it. I really wanted to be part of that.

Before you actually joined Matthew Bourne, you had quite a varied career in, dance. What do you think you brought with you that actually prepared you for what Matthew Bourne would demand?

I had amazing training, which is so important, you know, to have the technique and be able to physically do all the movements. But I think actually being a real person is so important in this company, because you have to be able to tell a story, like I said, and to be able to act well you need to have experienced a lot of different things and bring those experiences to the company and to your characters. It is really, really important. So I think learning from all the different jobs I’ve done, whether it’s, you know, about artistry or about the physical movement I think it’s so important to be versatile coming into it. And it really lends itself so well to it.

Now the production of Matthew Bourne’s The Red Shoes is being brought back to the Mayflower in Southampton. And I understand you’re no stranger to Southampton.

I’m actually from Winchester, so not too far away. And when I was younger, my parents took me and my brother to the Mayflower all the time to see all the different shows. And that’s where my love of theatre started. So it’s really, really special for me. I also made my professional debut as a child in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and that was when I was 10. Oh, my goodness, being on stage every night and doing it, it was amazing. I loved moving, but having the opportunity at such a young age to be on stage and experience that, it was, incredible. And I thought, wow, I have to have to do this. I was already, doing ballet, and I loved it so much, having started at three and a half.

I’ve been back to Mayflower Theatre in the last few years with Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake and Edward Scissorhands. It’s where my love of theatre started and it’s where my family and my friends and my ballet teacher can come and support me as well. So it’s just a really, really, special week.

What prompted you to take up dance in the first place?

Well, I think it really was going to the theatre. Like I said, my parents took me and my brother also, he’s a few years older than me, and he did acting and dancing and stuff from a young age. So I naturally fell into it that way. And I just loved it. And then I think I got to about age eight or so and I used to write my parents letters saying, please send me to more ballet classes so I can be a professional. I wanted to work really hard, so bless them, they would take me to dance every single night after school. And it was just all I ever wanted to do. So I think it was from going to Mayflower Theatre from such a young age, that was probably just how it happened.

While you were growing up, were there any individuals that actually inspired you?

I think Annette Fitzgerald, my first ever ballet teacher, really inspired me. So I had her from the age of three and a half until, until 13, when I left Florian School Of Dance in Winchester and went off to Royal Ballet School. She was so hardworking, so passionate, I just loved her, I adored her, I worked so hard for her as well. I just wanted to make her proud. She was always such an inspiration, so wonderful and such an inspiring teacher. Without any doubt she has been my main source of inspiration.

How difficult was it at 13 to be separated from home, school and friends to start at the Royal Ballet School?

There’s definitely those aspects that are really hard when you’re away from home. And I mean, I’m really close to my family, so that was, that was really hard. But I was really lucky that I would be able to see them most weekends. And it had always been such a dream for me to go to ballet school and I just loved it so much that, that it was okay. This kind of leads back to The Red Shoes and the sacrifices you make for your art. Although the sacrifices, like not being able to see your friends or not seeing your family as much is hard, but you do it for what you love and what you’re passionate about.

So when you’re on tour and you’re able to come to Southampton, does that give you an opportunity to move back and stay with your parents?

Yes, I’ll be staying with my parents when we’re at Southampton, which is so lovely. And I’m sure they’ll be coming to see the show, probably most nights knowing them. So I’ll be able to be with them a lot and then I can go home with them and stuff. So it’ll be really, really lovely. And lots of friends as well will hopefully come. It should be a really special time.

What aspirations have you got for the coming years?

Well, I feel really, really lucky that my absolute dream was to dance with New Adventures. And I feel so lucky that I’m living that every day. I would just love to continue working here and growing. I have learned so much from my peers and from our team, management, our directors, and from the entire company. It’s such a wonderful place to work. So I would love to be here, keep growing, keep learning, keep being happy and living the dream, really. That would be my goal.

Well, Molly, I’m looking forward to seeing you in Matthew Bourne’s The Red Shoes at the Mayflower Theatre from10th March, so for now I will let you get back to your tech rehearsal ahead of opening night tonight in Milton Keynes. I hope you have a very succesful week and thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me today