Peter Pan

Bringing Peter Pan to the Norbury Theatre stage represented the completion of something of a labour of love for mother-daughter directing team Emma Hill and Ann Waters.  Nine years in the making, having been inspired by a Craig Revel-Horwood led show in Dartford, and utilising a script written by Ann, it was great to see their vision realised, to the evident enjoyment of a packed-out auditorium.

The show took the well-known elements of the Peter Pan story – the Darling children, the Lost Boys (or Kids, in this version), Captain Hook and Tinkerbell – but added another layer of interest as we learnt that a group of fairy tale characters had been marooned in Neverland, much to the chagrin of Peter and his gang.  But the dastardly machinations of Hook and his pirate crew, as well as the efforts of Little Red Riding Hood, brought the two groups together, and the tale ended with good will all around, and the Darling children returning just in time for Wendy’s sixteenth birthday party. 

Perhaps appropriately for a tale about eternal youth, I’d like to start by talking about the young performers who made up the Lost Kids.  They all brought great energy and fun to the show, skilfully executing some complicated singing and choreography such as ‘Don’t be Anything Less than Anything You Can Be’, and ‘I Got You’, which got the second half off to a rousing start.  Matilda Stead was particularly assured as Rolo, the self-appointed leader of the kids (well, she was the oldest!), and Lexy Steele (Ripple) also took her chance to impress during the songs.  But in truth every member of the Lost Kids did really well, so take a bow Holly Dufty (Fudge), Evie Makepeace (Yorkie), Tullula Rose Eglesfield (Wispa), Crystal Laverick (Twirl) and Finley Checketts (Flake).  Ah – I’ve just realised, they’re all named after chocolate bars!  The junior dancers provided another youthful highlight, full of smiles and clearly having a great time, particularly during ‘I Can Cook Too’.

The leader of the Lost Kids is, of course, Peter Pan, and Ellie Davison took on the role with gusto.  Lively and characterful, she gave the role a kind of earnest jolliness.  Spot on for a panto principal boy (even if she was a bit mean to Tinkerbell!)  Talking of which, Mary Jane Pearce did a very good job as Peter’s fairy sidekick, in a tricky role that was silent apart from the tinkling of her bells.  She must be very good at charades!   The early scene in which Peter and Tinkerbell chase Peter’s shadow around the Darling bedroom was particularly well done – nice work from Josh Cawston as the shadow. 

It wasn’t long before Peter was taking Wendy (Emily Dutton), John (Elliot Fitzhugh) and Michael (Abigail Kucera) Darling off to their adventure in Neverland, in a nicely conceived and performed UV sequence (I particularly liked the appearance of E.T. at the end!) Good work by the lighting team.  Luckily, their parents were too busy with a boozy party to notice, although Mrs Darling (Janet Sinclair) did take time out to sing a charming lullaby and Chris Newbould as Mr Darling gave them a distant pat on the head, before reappearing later as a naughty crocodile!

Waiting for them in Neverland were Captain Hook’s Pirate crew, led by Hayley Marshall and Olivia Hinton as Smee and Mini-Smee, both of whom injected some real energy and fun into the show.  Hard to believe that this was Hayley’s first appearance on stage!  Also on board ship was Florrie, the Cook, played by Paul Steele, sporting a couple of particularly impressive Chelsea Buns and always up for a bit of banter.  Emmie Collins and Abii Ward made up the scheming double act of One-Eye and Toothless, enjoying a fun version of ‘Bad Guys’ from Bugsy Malone.  The dastardly Captain Hook was well played by Norbury panto regular Jimmy Hill, taking his first stab at the villain.  He gave a strong performance, despite having been unwell, with a suitably devilish laugh and an amusing habit of misquoting Shakespeare.

Grace Duggan made a strong impression as the lively Red, particularly in her second-half song ‘Right Hand Man’, and was a good foil for Peter as they escaped from ‘the Rock’ (I liked the fun sound effect played whenever that scary place was mentioned!)  Fiona Andrews also popped up as Mother Goose, the leader of the fairy-tale folk.  Accompanying the principals was an impressive and lively ensemble, including three senior dancers alongside the junior team.  Appearing as everything from partygoers to pirates to fairy-tale characters, the ensemble certainly had their hands full! 

Music was provided, as always, by Laurence Nicholas, leading a six piece band, with Lois Press adding the choreography.  The technical side of things was well delivered, from a number of nicely painted backdrops to some impressive costuming across the board – especially at the end as the whole cast was decked out in Peter Pan green. 

Congratulation to all at the Norbury for another entertaining panto.  As the cast reached for stars at the joyous ending to the show, and previously invisible Narrator Steve Peace took his bow, it was easy to believe in the power of theatre!

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