Lauren Jones and Jordan Kai Burnett in Scissorhandz at Southwark Playhouse Elephant, London. Picture: Danny Kaan
Scissorhandz continues at Southwark Playhouse Elephant, London until 29 March 2025.
Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩
The hubbub can likely be heard from anywhere south of the Thames. This parody (for legal reasons) adaptation of Tim Burton’s beloved 1990 film Edward Scissorhands is loud, camp and most of all: lovely. From the welcoming pre-show voiceover from RuPaul’s Drag Race’s Michelle Visage (co-producer, alongside *NSYNC’s Lance Bass), it is clear that in the spirit of the original film’s dedication to the misfits and weirdoes of the world, the Southwark Playhouse is now more than ever a space for anyone who might feel excluded by the increasingly cold world outside.
As a parody, perhaps Scissorhandz misses the mark. Other than the odd moment of self-referential irony, writer/director Bradley Bredeweg reveres the source material too much to mock it. The core elements you remember from the film are all here: this is a Frankenstein story, complete with an eccentric scientist who builds a sensitive and misunderstood ‘monster’.
As the story progresses, Scissorhandz (for this poor humanoid creature has blades for fingers) is thrust out into the scary outside world. There they encounter moments of heartwarming kindness from some, but also outraged villagers who would wield pitchforks if only the fictional setting of Burtonville were more rural. The original film’s satire of this ostensibly polite and civilised suburbia and championing of difference remains, but with a marked shift of focus to anti-LGBTQIA+ and gender-based bigotry.
Like recent hits such as & Juliet and Cruel Intentions: The ’90s Musical, Scissorhandz’s score is a nostalgic pop delight. Musical director Gregory Nabours’ five-piece band is invaluable here. They get the party started from the very first notes but also show off great sensitivity in the quieter moments. Songs like Sara Bareilles’ ‘Gravity’ and Evanescence’s ‘Bring Me to Life’ make perfect sense side-by-side in this heightened gothic world. The frequent excursions into song are made all the more enjoyable by some truly remarkable vocal performances.
Emma Williams as Peg – the caring Avon lady kind enough to take Scissorhandz into her family home – and Lauren Jones as daughter Kim are particular vocal standouts. Also shining brightly is Dionne Gipson, who takes the male inventor role of the movie and imbues it with extra power, portraying a woman who clearly loved the child they have created. Gipson’s rendition of Tears For Fears’ ‘Mad World’ is a moment of quiet beauty in a frequently loud and frenetic show.
Elsewhere, Tricia Adele-Turner, Annabelle Terry and Ryan O’Connor bring the house down with brilliant comedic portrayals of various inhabitants of suburban Burtonville, as well showcasing some outstandingly powerful vocals of their own. In a show any less queer, the erratic tonal pendulum of Scissorhandz could be a problem, swinging as it does between meta silliness and pure tragedy. However, in the archly camp safe space lovingly built here at Southwark Playhouse, it’s all part of the fun. The anarchic atmosphere extends throughout the auditorium. Be warned: if you book front row, you will be treated as a prop. You will not, however, mind. Not one iota.
The key to giving this piece any grounding in any real human emotion and making it so impactful turns out to be its superb central performance. In a masterstroke of Bredeweg’s direction, Jordan Kai Burnett’s Scissorhandz is a character cleaved in two. They kick off the musical in full rock star charisma and pomp, a mode returned to frequently as the jukebox pop score requires. These moments of unadulterated rock ‘n’ roll joy stand in stark contrast to the tentative, gothic C-3PO Burnett portrays elsewhere. These read as flash-forwards – beacons of hope proving there is a future for this misfit. Free from the judgement and mores of cruel Burtonville, Scissorhandz will find their true self and thrive.
With decades of familiarity stripping this story of some of its novelty and surprise, and the tone of this jukebox parody piece leaning towards camp, there is a risk of the proceedings turning a little panto. Potentially impactful moments can be undercut by pop songs only tenuously related to the plot. And while Scissorhandz is a perfect innocent, the piece’s villains are cartoonishly bad. However, the piece manages to pull off the feat of being both joyously entertaining and moving too, for one depressing reason: as irredeemably monstrous as Scissorhandz makes out its antagonists to be, the real world’s forces of hatred and bigotry are not far removed.
In a year of Nazi salutes and shameless hate speeches, the cartoonish residents of Burtonville are instantly recognisable. The camp pop escapism and inclusive atmosphere generated is not only welcoming, but may even prove lifesaving in our harsh global political climate. This show has the potential to make Southwark Playhouse a must-visit location this winter, and deservedly so. At its best, theatre provides not only an escape, but a necessary critique of society, a reminder that we are not the crazy ones, no matter how colourful our outfits, loud our music, or outside of the ordinary our self-expression. Like its protagonist, Scissorhandz may have its imperfections, but it has an enormous heart and the superhuman talents on display may well leave you breathless.
Ian Bowkett
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