Edward Scissorhands at the Liverpool Empire Review
Edward Scissorhands
Empire Theatre, Liverpool
27-31 January 2015
Reviewed by Linzi Davies
Having not the seen the original film by Tim Burton in the 1990’s, I didn’t really know what to expect from the stage version of Edward Scissorhands. A brief explanation from my fiancé on the train described a boy created by a crazy inventor who only had various sets of scissors for hands. I sat down in my seat intrigued to say the least.
Matthew Bourne’s musical adaption had me mesmerized from the outset, the dark and dismal opening scenes encompassing both a graveyard scene and the depths of the mad inventors’ house where Edward was created in such a fascinating manner, in memory of the inventor’s deceased son. Before the boy was complete his maker was murdered leaving him with only shears for hands. Like many of his other productions, Bourne uses no dialogue leaving the audience to truly feel the story through the actors, movements, gestures and dance.
The scene then seamlessly changes to the houses that make up the village of Hope Springs and some fun quirky dancing and outfits introduce us to some of the very bizarre residents. The Boggs family who kindly take Edward into live with them and their two teenage children, Kevin and Kim who Edward falls in love with. The Monroe family who include the extremely sultry Joyce who leads her husband and Edward a merry dance throughout the production. The Upton family, the popular Mayor and his lovely wife and their children, James who is Kim’s on/off boyfriend. The other families play smaller parts within the ballet but they are still as important.
The story moves on with Edward, although initially being treated as some sort of circus act, endearing himself to the families of the village with his creative gardening and later hairdressing talents. As with many good shows, there is always a love interest and the undercurrent is the growing relationship between Edward and Kim. Whether there is a happy ever after, on this occasion I’ll leave for the viewers to discover for themselves.
Edward’s, (Dominic North), disjointed movements and flawless facial expressions were just sublime and really captured the imagination of the watching audience and left me spellbound. What an amazingly talented guy and a well deserved standing ovation closed the show.
I would suggest that this adaption is a contemporary ballet combining lots of differing styles, in perfect synchronisation to a mind-blowing sound track.
A wonderfully mesmeric evening that brought a tear to the eye with the depth of emotion portrayed without a word being uttered.
Rating: 5/5 
Tickets cost from £10 to £41.40 (plus £2.85 transaction fee).
Edward Scissorhands is at the Empire Theatre in Liverpool until 31 January 2015. For more information or to book tickets click here or call the box office on 0844 8713017.
Liverpool Empire Theatre, Lime Street, Liverpool, Merseyside, L1 1JE | 0844 8713017
