Tag Archives: Brian Pendleton

SCISSORHANDZ

โ˜…โ˜…โ˜…

Southwark Playhouse Elephant

SCISSORHANDZ

Southwark Playhouse Elephant

โ˜…โ˜…โ˜…

โ€œThe cast are superb across the board and there is an easy camaraderie that adds to the feelgood factorโ€

It is a bold statement to tag your show with the subtitle โ€˜A Musical Reinventedโ€™. But there is nothing faint-hearted about Bradley Bredewegโ€™s reinterpretation of Tim Burtonโ€™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 โ€“ if only for a few fleeting seconds before retreating behind the bank of loudspeakers to await rediscovery.

The tale of an outsider trying to โ€˜fit inโ€™ 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 Burnettโ€™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 Oโ€™Connor) are as maverick and flamboyant as Abby Clarkeโ€™s primary-coloured costume design; while Dionne Gipsonโ€™s striking, ethereal โ€˜Inventorโ€™ 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 โ€“ 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 Terryโ€™s โ€˜Heaven is a Place on Earthโ€™ is a standout moment, along with Tricia Adele-Turnerโ€™s โ€˜Bleeding Loveโ€™ and Dionne Gipsonโ€™s โ€˜Mad Worldโ€™. Emma Williams majestically reinvents โ€˜Creepโ€™ (even though we really feel the song belongs to Scissorhands), and throughout the show, the wall of sound created by musical director Arlene McNaughtโ€™s five-piece band threaten to bring the roof down.

It is quite the spectacle, but the nuances of Burtonโ€™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 โ€“ somewhat superficially like a โ€˜new-and-improvedโ€™, โ€˜special-offerโ€™ 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 Scissorhandsโ€™ make-shift fingers.

โ€œScissorhandzโ€ 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 โ€“ 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 โ€˜special somethingโ€™ within ourselves. Applied to itself, this show could well be onto a winning path to completion.



SCISSORHANDZ

Southwark Playhouse Elephant

Reviewed on 30th January 2025

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Danny Kaan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Previously reviewed at Southwark Playhouse venues:

CANNED GOODS | โ˜…โ˜…โ˜… | January 2025
THE MASSIVE TRAGEDY OF MADAME BOVARY | โ˜…โ˜…โ˜… | December 2024
THE HAPPIEST MAN ON EARTH | โ˜…โ˜…โ˜…โ˜…โ˜… | November 2024
[TITLE OF SHOW] | โ˜…โ˜…โ˜… | November 2024
THE UNGODLY | โ˜…โ˜…โ˜… | October 2024
FOREVERLAND | โ˜…โ˜…โ˜…โ˜… | October 2024
JULIUS CAESAR | โ˜…โ˜…โ˜… | September 2024
DORIAN: THE MUSICAL | โ˜…โ˜…ยฝ | July 2024
THE BLEEDING TREE | โ˜…โ˜…โ˜…โ˜… | June 2024
FUN AT THE BEACH ROMP-BOMP-A-LOMP!! | โ˜…โ˜…โ˜… | May 2024
MAY 35th | โ˜…โ˜…โ˜…ยฝ | May 2024
SAPPHO | โ˜…โ˜… | May 2024

SCISSORHANDZ

SCISSORHANDZ

SCISSORHANDZ