Making the cut! Liam’s journey from Greatfield Estate to West End stardom
BALLET DANCER AND ACTOR TO PERFORM FOR HOME HULL CROWD AS EDWARD SCISSORHANDS
HE’S not yet 32 but Hull’s Liam Mower is already an old hand when it comes to matters of the stage and screen.
Raised on the city’s Greatfield Estate, Liam was off at the tender age of 13 to star in London’s West End, sharing the lead role of Billy Elliott in Sir Elton John’s musical version of the box office hit. These days, happily, he has managed to overcome the crippling stage fright that used to assail him as a younger performer, and expects the
“normal nerves” to kick in as he waits in the wings for his latest spell in the spotlight.
Ballet dancer and actor Liam is delighted to be returning to the city of his birth to perform for only the second time in his professional career to a home crowd. He is taking on the mantle of Edward Scissorhands for this week’s run of Matthew Bourne’s magical dance production, which opened on Tuesday, April 23, at Hull New Theatre.
Reprising the role he first embodied back in 2014, Liam said: “We have been touring since October last year and we finish in Amsterdam in the summer. It’s been hefty but enjoyable – I’ve not had a week off since the tour started.”
Liam plays Edward, a boy created by an eccentric inventor, who is left alone and unfinished with only scissors for hands when his maker dies. It’s a moving show, which has been carving a place in the hearts of audiences worldwide since it premiered in 2005.
The dancer said: “Time has whizzed by since the first time I played Edward. I had stage fright last time. When the opportunity came back round I really wanted to take it on.
“The second time visiting a role always feels really different. You feel a lot more in control and you bring another layer to it, I think.”
Liam said he found “ways to cope” after first experiencing stage fright when he was about 12. Talking to colleagues and friends and making sure he was properly prepped before every show helped – “and taking a moment to really process what I was about to do”.
“Once I was actually on that stage, it would just trickle away,” he
said. “I think it’s important to open up about it as a performer. I don’t think stage fright gets spoken about enough.”
Even if those normal nerves kick in for the show, he has plenty of home support in his corner. Liam said: “I’m especially excited about my Hull audience.
“I have only performed professionally in Hull when I came to do Swan Lake with another Matthew Bourne production and a
Hull New Theatre audience will be really special. I’m excited to see how they respond to the show and no doubt they will absolutely love it.
“It’s the theatre I grew up in and performed in as a kid and where I got my first taste of theatre. I saw Oliver there when I was seven or eight-years-old. Being from Hull, it holds a special place in my heart.
“I am still very much a home bird, I come back to Hull all the time. My brothers have now had children and live there; my mum and dad are still in Hull.
“They are all coming on Saturday night. I think they’ve literally booked out the theatre. Every auntie and uncle and their dog, all my old dance school [Liam’s love of dance was nurtured at Hull’s Northern Academy of Performing Arts], my old dance teachers, so many people who have been instrumental in supporting me, are going to be there – good luck to
anyone trying to get a ticket that night!”
The former Archbishop Thurstan Primary School boy and Royal Ballet School student recalls how homesick he used to be when he played Billy Elliott – he moved back to Hull when he was 15 to take his GCSES, before returning to London a year later – and would spend as many weekends as possible at home, “just being normal and waking up and seeing my mum in the morning”.
Now London based – “it’s the place you need to be to perform as a dancer” – Liam still finds plenty of excuses to come back when he can. “They say home is where the heart is, and that’s so true.”
Looking back over his career so far, especially those early Billy
Elliot days, Liam says he “soaked it all up like a sponge”. His experiences include knowing Nicole Kidman was in the audience watching him perform.
Having more recently appeared in films Greatest Days and Disney release Disenchanted, Liam has got used to the limelight and meeting stars. He said: “Sir Elton John was the first famous person I met and working with him was an incredible experience.”
Liam performed with the superstar in the prestigious annual Royal Variety Performance, and won a starring role in Electricity,
Sir Elton’s spin-off music video to the Billy Elliott musical. Liam said: “Having met Sir Elton at such a young age, I think that impacted how I felt about meeting famous people later; I wasn’t really fazed by it, I mean, you can’t get much more famous than Sir Elton John.”
After the Hull run of Edward Scissorhands, Liam is looking forward to a short break before resuming the concluding part of the tour. “I’m getting two weeks off,” he said. “I’m looking forward to spending some time in the sun, sitting on the beach all day and reading a book.”
As for what might be coming up in the future, Liam said: “There are always things cropping up. This is audition season and there are things coming through I am having meetings for, but it’s too early to say yet. I am still loving being on the stage. That’s where my true passion lies.”
Liam Mower will be playing the part of Edward Scissorhands tonight and Saturday – subject to change. He is sharing the role with Stephen Murray.