£1,000 designer shoe stolen from Youth Theatre Fringe show
It sounds like a plot twist straight out of the script – but for one Milton Keynes youth theatre troupe, the theft of a prized stage prop has become an all-too-real drama on the Royal Mile.
Once Upon Productions, performing their rock/pop musical Shoe Dunnit at Venue 39 inside the Radisson Blu hotel, were left reeling on Saturday afternoon when the central prop – a £1,000 designer Christian Louboutin stiletto with its signature red sole – vanished after their sold-out second performance.
The show, which follows a café owner on a mission to heal her customers’ broken hearts while trying to solve the mystery of her own missing shoe, is one of the company’s flagship productions. It was inspired, ironically enough, by a real-life shoe theft.
“We were all over the moon at having a sell-out show on Saturday,” said show organiser Frank Scarito. “In all the chaos of congratulations and elation, we didn’t notice till an hour later that our Christian Louboutin shoe was missing. Since then we’ve been in touch with the venue staff and Fringe organisers to see if it’s been handed in, but nothing so far. We’ll have to contact the police if it doesn’t show up.”
The loss has hit the cast hard, especially leading lady Ana Diego, who last had the shoe in her hands. “She’s inconsolable,” Scarito added. “It’s rather ironic – our show is about a stolen shoe and that’s what appears to have happened here. It really is life imitating art.”
Until the real Louboutin is recovered, the company has been forced to use a stand-in shoe for performances – a poor substitute for the eye-catching original.
Frank added: “We’ve found a similar looking shoe from a second hand shop, and painted the sole red, which will have to do for now.”
Whether the missing heel turns up in a lost-and-found box or under the arm of an opportunistic souvenir-hunter remains to be seen. For now, the mystery remains – onstage and off.
Once Upon Productions is known for fusing live music, theatre, and design into immersive shows. Shoe Dunnit packs 11 original songs into a 50-minute set and is part of the group’s Café L’Arté series.
Show details:
- Title: Shoe Dunnit at Café L’Arté
- Venue: Venue 39, Radisson Blu Hotel, Royal Mile, Edinburgh
- Dates: 1–9 August 2025
- Time: 2:35pm daily
- Tickets: Book online here via theSpaceUK / Edinburgh Festival Fringe box office, with select 2-for-1 offers available on certain dates.