Edward Scissorhands, Mel Winning and Simon Dee

by Parsley on Fri, 2008/12/19 - 2:45pm Post to Twitter

PARSLEY’S COMMLOCK Theatre Review : Edward Scissorhands, Sadler’s Wells
Continued my Tim Burton education with a trip to Sadler’s Wells for a musical adaptation of Edward Scissorhands.

I hadn’t seen the film so I thought it would be interesting to see this version first. My friend Tony Reeve assures me I’ll be blubbing my way through the film version, and being a sentimental soul as I am, I’ve no reason to doubt him.

Last time I was at Sadler’s Wells was in the late 80’s for Sinead O’Connor, whose backing band included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce of The Smiths. Since then it has been rebuilt into a posh glass setup, with big video screens showing people walking by what performances look like.

The show was adapted/directed by Matthew Bourne. The staff obviously thought he was the most important thing about the show, because when I asked if there was a DVD of it they said no, then tried to flog me a DVD of 3 other shows he’d done. Being the pleb I am I’d not heard of him or any of his other productions.

As the show kicked off I realised I’d not cottoned on to a major aspect of it - a complete lack of dialogue. After a while this made it slightly ‘claustrophobic’. The audience seemed to be lapping it up, and it was particularly strange when they appeared to laugh/over-react to things that happened onstage. Maybe they were more familiar with the language of dance…

That said, it was all pretty well done, with some clever sets and lighting effects and a large cast that were working hard, in terms of full-on body movements and very stylised visuals of American life. Occasionally there was so much action on stage that it was a bit difficult to work out where you were supposed to be looking. There were also some sequences that to my inexperienced dance show eyes were overly long and didn’t add to the narrative.

Edward goes from freak to hero and back again and the interactions with his love interest and other locals all made good viewing. The end was only slightly tearful for me, but I’m expecting the film will pack more of a punch.

Afterwards the cast, and in particular Edward himself, were available for photocalls, and as I’d come dressed as Jack Skellington from the Nightmare Before Christmas I was happy to join him for a picture.

I mused that with its lack of dialogue the show could have been engineered for a tourist audience, although with the nympho neighbour trying to seduce Edward I’m not sure it would necessarily be appropriate viewing for all the family. Still fun though.

Internet tip: www.melwinning.com
I’ve met Mel Winning twice now, whilst working on films for Nick Simpson where she was doing the make up. The first time she made my face grubby so I could be a medieval soldier (I have a brief appearance at the end of the film at www.focus-on-imaging.net/jf/cameralot2-hi.htm). The second time she helped me fulfil a lifelong ambition to have pointed ears like Mr Spock from Star Trek. She even did a bit of his eyebrows for me too.

She is relentlessly patient and positive, imaginative and resourceful, and has an armada of stories from things that she has been involved with. As well as my ears she created a complete silver face for a girl alien, and recreated the look of a robotic butler in a pastiche of Woody Allen’s film ‘Sleeper’.

Alongside her magnificent facial creations, she is a photographer and if there are any bands needing a cheap shoot she’s up for a test. And if you happen to be running a Star Trek convention or evening she is up for giving the attendees authentic pairs of Vulcan ears for the occasion. You can contact her at melanie.winning@ntlworld.com.

TV Review : Simon Dee on Sex, Drugs and Rock ‘N’ Roll: 60’s Revealed, Channel 5 01/12/08
Tony Reeve was kind enough to show me highlights of the first episode of a Channel 5 programme reuniting celebrities with themselves as interviewed by Bernard Braden in the sixties.

The first thing to say is that Channel 5 is guilty of some gruesome padding in this show, re-announcing and re-explaining the show tediously after every advert break. This suggested that either the footage they had was extremely bad, short, or they just didn’t understand it. My guess is that it was about stretching it to a series.

Second thing to say is that the show’s narrative ridiculously misunderstood the differences between sixties and seventies, for example referring to people in the sixties listening to ghetto blasters - oops!

Third and most important thing to say is that sixties vernacular expressions still totally rule. Simon Dee explained that he couldn’t play classical music on his Radio 1 show, but ‘slam out the pop at them and they groove.’ I turned to Tony and said that this man was truly speaking my language. So next time Channel 5, please just show us the footage and don’t chop it up into tedious pieces surrounded by ill informed repetitive self-aggrandisement.

parsley@gardenrecords.com [www.gardenrecords.com]