Edward Scissorhands

The feverish activity at the entrance to Sadler’s Wells Theatre tells its own story. The milling crowd, the excited paparazzi with their flash bulbs and the celebrity audience all make their own contribution to a typical Matthew Bourne opening night. Angel Flowers worked their magic in the foyer with Astroturf flooring, huge topiary exhibits and stunning flower displays: the world of Edward Scissorhands is evoked before anyone even enters the auditorium.

All the sedate conventions of ballet and modern dance-going are junked in the media frenzy that accompanies Bourne: he simply makes his own rules. The punters are hip and fashionable. The urgent, braying sound of vox populi fills the air. This is not a typical dance audience and Bourne does not present typical dance fare. His production values are those of a West End musical and the shows have long runs in London and on international tours. Dance critics and dance connoisseurs‚ reservations about the quality of the choreography have the impact of a whisper in a force ten hurricane. Yet even the purists give Bourne credit for his theatricality and imagination: he won a Critics‚ Circle National Dance Award in 2005 for “Play Without ...