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With a winter treat for all the family, choreographer Matthew Bourne returned to Norwich during the UK tour of his theatrical adaptation of Tim Burton's cult movie Edward Scissorhands.

Left with only scissors for hands, Edward tries to find his place in a strange new suburban world where the well-meaning community struggles to see past his strange appearance to his innocence and gentleness within.

"It is an original gothic fairy story that is simple and universal enough to be told through music and movement alone," said Matthew Bourne.

"For me, it's a story that touches everyone and I think Edward is a character who veryone can relate to in some ways.

"I think the thing that's strange about him, the scissor hands, are symbolic of anything that can be different about anyone, in any community and about how that community treats someone who’s different.

"It can be the kid who's made fun of at school for any reason. It could be someone of disability, a racial thing, it could be a sexuality thing. I think everyone can relate to that and I think that's why he's such a universal ultimate outsider character," he added.

Creating a new Scissorhands

The original film directed by Tim Burton, with a score by Danny Elfman, has become a modern classic. Bourne's journey in creating his vision of Scissorhands started with a meeting with Caroline Thompson, the author of the screenplay.

"I met Caroline through my friend Alan Cumming, the actor. He was making a film with her, she'd seen some of my shows in LA and was very excited about this idea," said Bourne.

"Through her introduction it was a meeting with Danny [Elfman] next, as the music was a big part of why I thought it would work on stage - it's wonderfully theatrical and melodic.

"He got excited about the idea... and the last person to meet was Tim [Burton], who of course didn't know anything about me or my work. We managed to get him along to see one of our shows in Los Angeles and he sort of got it – I think he got how it could work both in the theatre and through movement.

"He had no interest in it being a musical, he would not have given permission for it to be used as a musical theatre piece, but he saw something in the kind of style we had that would work and that's why he gave permission for us to create our version of it."

The role of Edward is so demanding, it's danced by two cast members - Richard Winsor and Sam Archer.

"It's a great chance for me and such a unique character to play. I've always loved Tim Burton's work, so this is a dream part for me," said Archer.

"It's the depth of the emotion and the openness of the story. Then you have the whole look of the thing with the hands – it's a great challenge."

Learning to dance with scissor blades as hands hasn't been easy, and Sam admits there have been many comic moments.

"At first it was quite alien getting used to the weight, how to manoeuvre with them. We can't put them on on our own and when we have them on, we can't take them off," he said.

"In one instance we were rehearsing on our own and Richard's shoe lace came undone and we couldn't do it up. We had to wait for Matthew to come up and tie our laces. We really felt helpless.

"It takes three people to help us get the costume on and it takes 20 mintues, then as soon as we've got the hands on going to the bathroom is impossible!

"The show is so physical you have to drink a lot of water, so by the end of the show it's a nightmare. Maybe they should have put a way ofΜύ doing something there, but once you've got the hands on… obviously we'll have to become really friendly with the dresser!," he laughed.

Elfman's music

The theatrical production of Edward Scissorhands remains faithful to Danny Elfman's haunting score, but Bourne was quick to involve composer Terry Davies with the project.

"Terry has come on board, who I did Play Without Words with and the Carman, and he's interwoven his own music into Danny Elfman's film themes," he said.

"Danny couldn't be involved on a day-to-day basis with the putting together of a show like this, but he gave us all the film music to work with and that's what we were so excited about in the first place.

"There's a lot of new music in it and we found a lot of stuff in the film score that we've extended."

Setting the show

Matthew Bourne's production of Edward Scissorhands is set in the 1950s - a pastiche of that era in American history. The stage production also develops further key characters and situations from the film.

"Somebody said on the TV the other day it's like 'Frankenstein meets Happy Days' and that's absolutely right I think.

"Joyce Munroe is a character from the film and as with all the characters from the film we've expanded them into families.

"She's the town slut I suppose and she's having an affair with one of the other husbands. There's an element of Desperate Housewives in this... she's intrigued by the length of Edward's blades," he added.

Teens and touring the UK

As Edward Scissorhands begins its tour of the UK, Matthew Bourne is excited about taking the show on the road and is delighted to be coming back to Norwich.

"I love watching it with an audience and seeing what they get, what they respond to. I love the fact we're getting a lot of teenagers in and I think that's great," he said.

"If this is the first thing that they see in the theatre it will set them up for life in a way.

"There's humour, characters they can identify with, theatrical magic and the whole generation gap thing that goes on in the piece.

"I wish I'd have been taken to see this when I was a kid – I was taken to Coriolanus which has put me offΜύShakespeare to this day virtually.

"Norwich is one of the nicest venues we go to. We're guaranteed a nice response there and it's a great theatre in that it's intimate and big enough.

As for the future, Matthew says it's time for him to start watching new things - but if the opportunities to work in the film world come his way - he'd be very happy.

"I'd really like Tim [Burton] to want to direct a musical film and to partner with him on the choreography or something," said Bourne.

"I'd be more keen to get involved in film as a partner or co-director in charge of certain aspects of the film. I'd very excited about that," he added.

Edward Scissorhands was performed at the Norwich Theatre Royal from Tuesday 28 February to Saturday 4 March, 2006. The national tour continues until May 2006.

_{For full details of venues in the national tour, visit the Edward Scissorhands website.}^{This article was first published on 17 January, 2006.}