Edward Scissorhands Screenplay Writer Caroline Thompson On Matthew
Bourne’s Adaptation
Edward Scissorhands
Newcastle Theatre Royal
Wednesday 27 March – Saturday 6 April 2024
Devised, directed and choreographed by Sir Matthew
Bourne OBE and based on the original motion picture directed by Tim Burton with
screenplay by Caroline Thompson; the highly anticipated dance production Edward
Scissorhands, promises a witty, emotional and bittersweet story of an
incomplete boy left alone in a strange new world when it plays Newcastle
Theatre Royal this week.
Edward Scissorhands was born in June 1986 in the Bombay Bicycle
Club restaurant in West Los Angeles, California, when Tim Burton, then a little-known
director and producer was having a drink at the bar with Caroline Thompson, an
American novelist and screenwriter.
“We had been introduced a couple of months earlier by
our agents,” Caroline shares, “They had put us together because they didn’t
know quite what to do with either one of us!”
At that time, Tim had directed one hugely popular but
peculiar feature film, Pee Wee’s Big Adventure. Caroline was the author
of a virtually unknown and peculiar Gothic novel called First Born.
Happily, the pair liked one another immediately and
wanted to work together, over time discussing possible ideas. “Then, on that
evening at the Bombay Bicycle Club, [Tim] told me about a drawing he had
made in school. It was a boy who had scissors instead of hands.”
“Sometimes a story arrives all at once. Edward
Scissorhands was just such a story.” It landed in an instant – the instant
after Tim told Caroline about his drawing and was instantly exhilarating for
them. The story occupied realms both held dear and spun cunningly on the
Frankenstein story.
It examined the shiny surfaces of suburbia and the
ugly underneath. It conjured childhood, the nostalgia and the resentments, yet,
at the same time, Caroline admits it seemed “totally ridiculous, stupid even.”
Its central metaphor seemed excruciatingly obvious to
her – “If you have no hands, you can’t touch; if you can’t touch, you can’t
have contact; if you can’t have contact, you can’t connect, you can’t belong,
you’re left out, if, additionally, instead of hands you wield scissors,
sharp blades, everything you do actually dare to touch rips or shreds or turns
to tatters...” She shrugs.
Initially, the movie was going to be a musical and
Caroline postponed writing the screenplay, determining first to write an
extended treatment in prose. The concept may have landed in an instant, but Caroline
still had to explore and articulate it.
“It’s difficult to explain,” she starts, “I felt that
my job as the writer was to follow the story where it went rather than to tell
it where to go. The best work is like that. It feels bizarrely ego-less.”
What she discovered along the way was that the very
obviousness, the naiveté, the fable-like simplicity of their silly, out-sized
metaphor gave direct access to feelings. “It led me straight to the emotional
jugular.” She laughs.
“Three blurry weeks later I had seventy-five pages or
so to give to Tim. We decided to forget about songs and to trust the power of
the emotions.”
Then, the screenplay, by way of Tim’s wizardry, became
a movie and now the story of Edward Scissorhands has surfaced again –
this time to be told through the genius of Matthew Bourne.
“Matthew is Edward’s perfect conduit. His is a
brilliant wit. He thrives on whimsy – one gets to laugh while watching a
Matthew ballet. And not just a little, but to laugh a lot." Caroline
smiles.
The New Adventures company are world renowned
for not only their dancers’ technicality, but their alertness to their feelings
and awareness of what’s happening in the tale. Story drives Director and
Choreographer Matthew Bourne’s productions, yet he can capture the deepest
emotion with the tiniest gesture. He plays with rhythm and movement in a unique
way and captures the story of Edward Scissorhands using a hauntingly
beautiful score based on the original motion picture compositions by Danny
Elfman with new music and arrangements created by Terry Davies.
Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake and Nutcracker!
remain two of the most amazing pieces of theatre Caroline has ever seen.
Watching them for the first time, she shares of how she perched on the edge of
the seat, still as stone, gaping in awe.
“I had the same experience the first time I watched
Matthew’s fun and tender interpretation of Edward Scissorhands. And now,
nearly twenty years later, we all get to watch the magic again! I am forever
thrilled and beyond grateful to have been one of the catalysts behind this
beautiful ballet.”
Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures are a firm favourite
with Newcastle Theatre Royal audiences, having dazzled with renowned
productions including Sleeping Beauty and Nutcracker! in recent
years.
Can Edward find his place in the well-meaning
community which struggles to see past his curious appearance to the innocence
and gentleness within?
Photos: Johan Persson
Tickets:
Edward Scissorhands plays Newcastle Theatre Royal Wednesday
27 March – Saturday 6 April 2024. Tickets can be purchased at www.theatreroyal.co.uk or from the Theatre Royal Box Office on 0191 232 7010.
%20in%20EDWARD%20SCISSORHANDS.%20Devised,%20Directed%20and%20Choreographed%20by%20Matthew%20Bourne.%20Photo%20by%20Johan%20Persson.jpg)
.jpg)
%20in%20EDWARD%20SCISSORHANDS.%20Devised,%20Directed%20and%20Choreographed%20by%20Matthew%20Bourne.%20Photo%20by%20Johan%20Persson.jpg)
%20and%20Liam%20Mower%20(Edward)%20in%20EDWARD%20SCISSORHANDS.%20Devised,%20Directed%20and%20Choreographed%20by%20Matthew%20Bourne.%20Photo%20by%20Johan%20Persson%20(1).jpg)
%20in%20EDWARD%20SCISSORHANDS%20Devised,%20Directed%20and%20Choreographed%20by%20Matthew%20Bourne.%20Photo%20by%20Johan%20Persson.jpg)
.%20Credit%20-%20Manuel%20Harlan.jpg)
%20&%20Geoffrey%20Freshwater%20(Bardolph).%20Credit%20-%20Manuel%20Harlan.%20162.jpg)
%20and%20cast.%20Credit%20-%20Manuel%20Harlan.%20003.jpg)
.%20Credit%20-%20Manuel%20Harlan.%20008.jpg)
.%20Credit%20-%20Manuel%20Harlan.%20085.jpg)
%20&%20Daniel%20Rabin%20(Poins).%20Credit%20-%20Manuel%20Harlan.%20107.jpg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
