★★★★★

“continually manages to entertain and surprise”

How do you fit humanity’s 300,000-year existence on planet earth into an hour? Jack Godfrey and Ellie Coote somehow do just that in their new musical ‘Hot Mess’, transforming the messy relationship between people and the planet into a toxic romantic relationship between ‘Earth’ (Danielle Steers) and ‘Humanity’ (Tobias Turley). It shouldn’t work as well as it does.

Steers immediately sets the tone with her stellar vocals as her character laments her ongoing singledom, having not found a species of ‘apex predator’ to her liking since the sexy short-armed T-rexes of millions of years ago. This anthropomorphic iteration of our planet is no ‘Mother Earth’ or mythic ‘Gaia’ – she is a millennial in a satin green nightgown with an endless stream of geological puns up her sleeve. Earth dances confidently around her stylised living room, an effectively layered set by Shankho Chaudhuri, complete with blue floors, green furniture, and lots of plants. In bursts Humanity: a white guy in gold-rimmed glasses and a sheepskin jacket, of course. Turley matches Steers’ outstanding voice as they whirl through an impressive array of musical styles. Co-orchestrators Godfrey and Joe Beighton have done a particularly good job of capturing the epic scale of this relationship in their pleasing electronic compositions.

As Humanity, Turley also stands out for his portrayal of the self-centredness, short-sightedness, and greed that leads to the inevitable breakdown of their relationship.

Intelligent and ambitious, Humanity’s quick development from hunter-gatherer to farmer to self–appointed architect-of-the-world is only possible because he has no qualms about exploiting his girlfriend, his ‘only home’, for her many resources (cue silly drilling innuendos). His adulterous trip to the Moon and unwarranted introduction of planes and cars, cleverly incorporated into the soundscape (Paul Gatehouse & Charlie Smith), drive Earth further to the edge, resulting in literal stormy weather, cleverly represented in Ryan Joseph Stafford’s light(n)ing design.

Naturally, the audience can see where the relationship will go from a million miles away, but ‘Hot Mess’ continually manages to entertain and surprise regardless. It transforms the climate crisis into a narrative of romantic fall-out so familiar that it allows the viewer to easily grasp some of the underlying issues that have caused it, pointing to humans’ essential solipsism and carelessness. In the end, Earth realises it does not need Humanity and kicks him out of her home, after which he finds refuge with a much more toxic partner, Mars. Despite that bleak prospect, you’ll be walking out of this show with a smile on your face.

SCISSORHANDZ

Southwark Playhouse Elephant

★★★

“The cast are superb across the board and there is an easy camaraderie that adds to the feelgood factor”

It is a bold statement to tag your show with the subtitle ‘A Musical Reinvented’. But there is nothing faint-hearted about Bradley Bredeweg’s reinterpretation of Tim Burton’s classic and gothic fairytale. Direct from Los Angeles, it bursts onto the London stage as though heading for Wembley Arena, but instead took a wrong turn and landed up in the three-hundred-seater, Southwark venue. Edward Scissorhands, the solemn and doleful outsider, has morphed into a rock legend of their own making – if only for a few fleeting seconds before retreating behind the bank of loudspeakers to await rediscovery.

The tale of an outsider trying to ‘fit in’ is an obvious celebration of being different; yet it is hard to maintain the impact of this message when the whole ensemble are complete weirdos anyway. A delightful bunch, nonetheless. Jordan Kai Burnett’s Scissorhands is slightly pushed into the shadows as a result, eclipsed by the eccentrics that surround them. Emma Williams, as Avon Lady Peg who adopts the waif-like Scissorhands, also adopts the role of protagonist with her wonderfully kooky, mad-as-a-hatter portrayal of the American housewife. Neighbours Joyce (Tricia Adele-Turner), Esmerelda (Annabelle Terry) and Helen (Ryan O’Connor) are as maverick and flamboyant as Abby Clarke’s primary-coloured costume design; while Dionne Gipson’s striking, ethereal ‘Inventor’ holds court from on high.

We are never completely emotionally engaged, but are always sucked into the sheer energy and sense of fun with which the performers are swamping the stage. And even if the song list gratuitously breaks the continuity of the story, the numbers are delivered with a powerful virtuosity. Like many juke-box musicals, the choice is hit and miss – some forming a neat and natural segue from the dialogue, whereas others are as isolated from the plot as Scissorhands is from reality. But, boy, there are some belters in there! Annabelle Terry’s ‘Heaven is a Place on Earth’ is a standout moment, along with Tricia Adele-Turner’s ‘Bleeding Love’ and Dionne Gipson’s ‘Mad World’. Emma Williams majestically reinvents ‘Creep’ (even though we really feel the song belongs to Scissorhands), and throughout the show, the wall of sound created by musical director Arlene McNaught’s five-piece band threaten to bring the roof down.

It is quite the spectacle, but the nuances of Burton’s original are lost in the mix, just as the quirkiness is occasionally obscured by an earnestness that is shoe-horned in. Rather than reinvented, the musical is relabelled – somewhat superficially like a ‘new-and-improved’, ‘special-offer’ packaging. Overtly establishing in a throwaway line of dialogue the correct pronoun for the lead character merely scratches the surface of the essential issue, while we either want it to dig deeper, or else take it as a given (as it should be).

There is a fair amount of disarray, but we cannot mistake the sheer joyfulness of it. The cast are superb across the board and there is an easy camaraderie that adds to the feelgood factor. The audience feel part of it all, especially when the fourth wall breaks down and boundaries are overstepped. Improvised ad-libs are let loose, often as sharp as the blades of Scissorhands’ make-shift fingers.

“Scissorhandz” is a fun-loving, camp, boisterous show bursting to crash through the walls of its chosen venue. But like Scissorhands themself, is a bit of a chimera – not quite fully formed. Yet there is something special in there, and it is an extraordinary piece of musical theatre. Its message implores us to seek that ‘special something’ within ourselves. Applied to itself, this show could well be onto a winning path to completion.

HOT MESS

Southwark Playhouse Elephant

★★★★★

“continually manages to entertain and surprise”

HOT MESS

Southwark Playhouse Elephant

Reviewed on 22nd October 2025

by Lola Stakenburg

Photography by Helen Murray

Previously reviewed at this venue:

HOT MESS

HOT MESS

HOT MESS

SCISSORHANDZ

Southwark Playhouse Elephant

★★★

“The cast are superb across the board and there is an easy camaraderie that adds to the feelgood factor”

SCISSORHANDZ

Southwark Playhouse Elephant

Reviewed on 30th January 2025

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Danny Kaan

Previously reviewed at Southwark Playhouse venues:

SCISSORHANDZ

SCISSORHANDZ

SCISSORHANDZ

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