Peter Viney's Blog

New / Adventures

Devised, directed & choreographed by Matthew Bourne
New music and themes by Terence Davies
Based on themes from the OST score by Danny Elfman
Original story & motion picture directed by Tim Burton
Original screenplay story and co-adapted by Caroline Thompson
Designed by Lez Brotherston

On Tour, Southampton Mayflower Theatre
Saturday 16th March 2024, 14.00

I can’t do a cast list. The programme has two principal dancers for every role, then they have a cover too. You basically need two complete companies plus cover to avoid injury by over-working the dancers. This is why these productions cost so much to mount.

This is an acclaimed production on an eighteen venue tour. It’s a dance theatre spectacular with a large cast, fabulous music, no expense spared.

We saw it at The Mayflower, the biggest venue in the South and it was nearly full. In its earlier incarnation as Southampton Gaumont, we saw Peter Brooks’ A Midsummer Nights Dream here. When it became The Mayflower, we saw the opening show, Bonnie Langford in Peter Pan. It’s a massive 2300 seat hall, suitable for musicals, ballet, opera and pantomime but DON”T see a play here. You won’t need to now. The Mayflower Trust took over the just built Nuffield City Theatre when it collapsed financially due to Covid. It is now the Mayflower MAST and does the plays.

We booked late and were in the rear circle. The theatre signs are awful and it’s a maze. The Circle and Rear Circle are the same area. If we’d booked on time we would have chosen stalls or front circle but with a cast of 25 (?) and the choreography, the high seats gave us a chance to see the staging and choreography in a way that would have been impossible in the front stalls. OK, no face close ups, it is never intimate, but the overview compensated. I’d do it again for this sort of production.

We made the wise decision to re-watch the original Tim Burton film from 1990 the night before. It meant we could appreciate the nuances and references. We had forgotten how good Johnny Depp and Wynona Ryder were. And how young. Depp‘s Edward had the Chaplinesque tragic funny walk clown (with scissors). The film has the pastel hues which inspired the recent film Barbie. The lead dancer as Edward Scissorhands captured that innocence, that pathos, perfectly, and did it without any lines too.

The film had a lot, really a lot, of topiary. It had dog clipping. Hair clipping. The ice sculpture with angel wings.

Then there were Edward’s movements incorporated with dance. Could they show it all? Could they do it all? Yes, they could do all of it.

The set and costume design is by Lez Brotherston. I have been remiss in not listing designers in the links on this site. The costumes, the colours, the set, the set mechanics – this is all marvellous. The South California late 50s look is consistent.

Then we have the range of dance types. Ballet, jive, ballroom, stage musical – it’s all there. The most popular film ever in the UK is said to be Grease. We’re in the same costume era. Full 1950s skirts with lots of petticoats are a gift for dancing routines.

Then there’s the humour. It’s also very funny.

The two dads in singlets doing their morning keep fit routine, the two gay men with their baby, the swimming pool, above all the scene where Edward gets the full seduction from the sexy neighbour in orange ski pants. It starts with a bean bag dropping from on high then ends with her on the trembling washing machine. Fabulous material.

Add romance, action with the bullying and fight, sadness … it ticks every box.

I’m not qualified to judge the dancing, but my companion assures me it was of the very highest order. We were too far away to judge whether we saw the cast who are in the photos. I believe quality control is such that it will be consistent.

The end wasn’t just a standing ovation, it was a massive ‘roar’ as well then whistling and cheering. So like every national review, five star.

*****

On The Mayflower.

It was refurbished in 2018 with ‘wider seats.’ I see. The legroom in the rear circle is agonising not helped by those daft opera glasses biting into your shin. I am now just under six foot one, and ~I was six foot three in my twenties. My shins were pressed tight against the seat in front. The rake is excellent, no heads in the way, but it means you can’t put your feet under the seat in front either. Even now I could hardly have sat there, except that I had one of the few empty seats besides me. The signage is awful and it is a maze to get seated. We couldn’t work out that Circle and Rear Circle were simply the same entrance. The gents has been converted from four or five urinals plus one cubicle to three cubicles. Men shall not be allowed to pee faster than women. The other gents at the top rear is now Unisex. This is Southampton, you do not need to compete with the Old Vic or RSC Swan in right-on bogs, just bring back the urinals and be sensible rather than aspirational PC.