Nine years since last staged, Matthew Bourne’s Edward Scissorhands is as sharp as ever.
The New Victoria was graced with an incredibly slick performance of this comic, bittersweet tale. Adapted from the famous Tim Burton film, we see a grieving father assemble a human with scissors for hands. Unfortunately, as a Frankenstein-style Edward Scissorhands comes alive, his creator dies.
Staggering into sickly sweet suburbia, Edward is adopted by the Boggs family. This perfect town is full of cartoon stereotypes: the sporty family, the politicians, the gay dads and crucifix-bearing fanatics. Although first interactions with the scissor-wielding Edward are nervous, the town comes to love the outsider with his unusual movement and insane topiary skills.
This is a true ensemble piece—the majority of the time, there are 20+ dancers on stage telling a story full of whimsy and comedy. Everyone on stage has their own distinct cartoonish characters, and the layered storytelling is full of side exchanges between all onstage, more than you catch in one viewing.
Stephen Murray as Edward is extraordinary—not least for his stamina and his ability to dance with 10 pairs of scissors in his hands at all times, but also for the beauty of his movement and the touching acting. His distinctive, stiff-legged walk and bewildered expression is accompanied by the percussive scissors clacking together with agitation. Against Edward’s confusion is the self-assured cheerleader Ashley Shaw as Kim Boggs, and the pair light up the stage with their spellbinding duets. The limitations of the scissor hands certainly didn’t stop Bourne building three dreamy pas de deux, full of lifts and embraces.
The first 30 minutes are devoted to setting up the tale and the characters, all done with great verve but lacking much contrast in movement language. Then arrives the barbecue scene, and it feels like the ballet really takes off, alternating between '50s well-behaved sun tanners, Edward shuffling awkwardly and the youngsters rocking out to a boombox.
The score, based on Danny’s Elfman's music from the film, keeps its cinematic style; it’s enjoyable but lacking deep emotion. Many of Bourne’s other popular full-length ballets are based on existing classical scores: Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Bizet all creators of deeply moving scores, In comparison, Terry Davies’s music and arrangements don’t match up. Lez Brotherston’s sets are always a talking point, and Duncan Mcclean’s projections layer in sparkle and magic.
Aside from the eclectically inspired choreography, what makes the New Adventures troupe stand out is their exceptional storytelling. The characters are larger than life, and acting is as important as the dancing, both woven together effortlessly.
Premièring in 2005, Bourne's production is now 19 years old. What a joy to be in the audience at Woking where the cast delivered Edward Scissorhands with all the electricity of a first night. A triumph.