Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands gothic fairytale has come to Liverpool, taking a leap into silence along the way.
The original 1990 film followed Johnny Depp as Edward, who relied on his innocent and eccentric facial expressions to tell the story of a lost boy trying to find his way.
Matthew Bourne, the director of its stage play equivalent, has taken this to the next step by turning the whole thing into a silent ballet, telling the story through seamless dance moves.
The play is set in American suburb, Hope Springs, during the 1950s. An inventor is left heartbroken after his son is struck by lightning, who then proceeds to patch him back together to get his beloved child back. But disaster strikes once more, leaving a scared, alone and not yet fully formed Edward to wander into the suburbs.
After being found rooting in bins, Edward is taken in by the Boggs family, who after realising he is harmless, they grow to accept the misfit as one of their own.
With his jerky footsteps, quizzical expressions and comic timings, Edward Scissorhands – portrayed by Dominic North – grips the audience with his heart-tugging performance.
North effortlessly graces the stage with his dances moves, making it seem easy to make a handful of gleaming shears seem elegant.
The emotions of the audience are upped by the iconic music from Danny Elfman, which features in the original motion picture.
Bourne’s mixture of the eerie music and smooth dancing brings a new life to the love story of Edward and the family daughter Kim, while also successfully adding an injection of comedy through the amazing performance of Hope Springs’ unfaithful siren, Joyce.
While Liverpool awaits the probability of snow this week, the Empire was covered in a flurry of the artificial white stuff as North was welcomed back on stage to a standing ovation and huge applause from the crowd.
Edward Scissorhands runs at the Empire until January 31st.