REVIEW: Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures – Edward Scissorhands at Mayflower Theatre

Mayflower Theatre has opened its doors to the wonderful world of Tim Burton as ‘Matthew Bourne’s Edward Scissorhands’ has come to Southampton. Sir Matthew Bourne is renowned for mixing classical and contemporary dance with classical cinema and popular culture references, to the point where ‘Matthew Bourne’ is almost his own genre of dance himself. To achieve a perfect mix of these things, who better to collaborate with than Tim Burton? Tim Burton is the king of goth culture in cinema; his dark creative mind goes hand in hand with Matthew Bourne’s signature twist on dance – and ‘Edward Scissorhands’ is a perfect example of this. 

I’m sure many of you will be aware of ‘Edward Scissorhands’ from Tim Burton’s 1990 film starring Johnny Depp as the title character. This ballet follows a near identical story, and I was worried that with there being no dialogue you’d struggle to follow along. This was absolutely not the case however! I was worried that knowing the story so well, you’d be waiting for the dialogue and it would feel incomplete without it. But Matthew Bourne has smashed it again, as his direction and choreography was more than enough in telling this witty, bittersweet story. Accompanied by the horrifyingly beautiful original score from Danny Elfman and Terry Davies, it was like watching the movie come to life in front of your eyes! 

It was like watching one of Tim Burton’s monsters come to life.

This story retelling is dark yet light, heartfelt and funny all at the same time. The dancing company was incredible at portraying the visions of Bourne and Burton and they made the performance so energetic and engaging. There was always so much going on, everywhere you looked a different mini story was being told. Leading the line was Liam Mower as ‘Edward Scissorhands’ and what a performance. He embodied the joyful naivety of the character perfectly. On top of his dancing, his mannerisms and comedy through the way he moved his body was incredible. Not to mention his chilling resemblance to Depp. Phenomenal performance! As Edward’s ‘will they, won’t they’ love interest, ‘Kim Boggs’, was played by Jade Copas. She was also exceptional. You could really feel the bond that herself and Mower shared on stage, and during their duet dances, WOW! Stephanie Billers brought a fantastically raunchy and comedic edge to the dance in her portrayal of ‘Joyce Monroe’, with Luke Murphy as ‘George Monroe’ also getting an auditorium worth of laughs every time he was on stage. As the other man in the love triangle, Ben Brown gave a compelling performance as ‘James ‘Jim’ Upton’, bringing the so called ‘bad guy’ to life. The whole cast were perfectly polished, and the way they not only danced as a unit, but also moved/acted further helped bring Tim Burton’s story to life. At times, the way in which they were moving was literally like watching one of Tim Burton’s monsters come to life. Overall outstanding! 

The overall production value of the show was exactly what you would expect from a Matthew Bourne or Tim Burton project. The set was more than just straight out of a Tim Burton movie, it was straight out of his mind. It was incredibly grand, but also intricate and clever. The same can be said with every single one of the costumes. Set and costume designer, Lez Brotherston, has made a story many of us know a reality! From the dancing tree costumes, to the theatre magic of sculptures/haircuts happening right in front of our eyes – just magnificent. I also particularly liked the use of perspective and mirrors within the set, as well as the use of projections and gauze within certain scenes – this again was very effective. 

The lighting used was also a major help in bringing this story to life. The use of shadows in particular within the castle and from the ballet box was so effective. Lighting designer, Howard Harrison, has clearly thought long and hard about the impact that colour and shade can have on certain scenes. The contrast between light and dark in theme, much like in the movie, was perfectly balanced. The perfect oxymoron matching to the styles of both Bourne and Burton. As I’ve already mentioned, the classic easily recognisable score from the brilliant Danny Elfman was added to superbly by Terry Davies. Hearing certain songs from the movie was the perfect icing on the cake to another ‘New Adventure’ classic. 

It was beautifully dark, funny and bittersweet.

The first Matthew Bourne production I saw was his version of ‘Sleeping Beauty’ and ever since then, I have been a huge fan of his work. Tim Burton is also one of my favourite film makers, having just visited his cinema exhibition in Italy. With both of these things in mind, I was always going to love this production, but I didn’t know that I’d enjoy it quite as much as I did! Any of Matthew Bourne’s productions are definitely a must see, from both a production and dance point of view. If you’re new to dance or ballet, I would say that Matthew Bourne is the dance that you need to see. It won’t only ease you in to a new style of dance, but you may just end up falling in love with it as well. In my opinion I think that ‘Edward Scissorhands’ may be one of his best, if not the best! Bourne’s and Burton’s work just lend themselves to each other perfectly and I can’t praise what I saw enough. It was beautifully dark, funny and bittersweet. All I wanted to do afterwards was watch the movie, and that’s exactly what I did! ‘Edward Scissorhands’ is showing at Mayflower Theatre until 16th March before continuing on its UK tour and wish the whole company and crew at ‘New Adventures’ the best of luck and success going forward.