Peter Pan
Information
- Date
- 25th March 2025
- Society
- 4Sixteen Theatre Company
- Venue
- Castle Newnham School
- Type of Production
- Pantomime
- Director
- Daniella Reynolds
- Musical Director
- Samantha Smith
- Written By
- J M Barrie
There can be no greater privilege and pleasure in my job than to be in at the beginning of a performers theatrical journey, so to visit Castle Newnham School and watch the pupils taking their first steps on their progress throughout their theatrical journey is always an enlightening experience. In this production of J M Barrie’s classic, we had years three and four, ages eight and nine, treading the boards for the first time in front of an audience of proud relatives. This production was directed by Danielle Reynolds.
This musical version was written by Sue Langwade with songs by Mark, Helen & Naomi Johnson and very much aimed at school productions as it written for a cast of up to 45! That’s a large cast for the studio theatre at Castle Newnham School, but by the clever use of both the floor, the isles and even the back of the auditorium they managed to use over 50 actors! That’s quite an achievement!
The set was in the round on the bare floor of the oblong studio theatre and when we first entered was laid out as the children’s bedroom in the Darling’s home and covered in toys scattered haphazardly, as per any child’s bedroom with a blanket and pillows for the bed. Lighting design was by the director who had roped in ex-pupil, the very experienced Ben Cronin to operate them.
With sound design by Emily Green, for the first time 4Sixteen had invested in radio mics, which certainly increased the amplification and clarity of singing in particular, but a little bit of practice is still needed in their use as they are no substitute for diction and projection, but they did very well for a first attempt at using face mics.
Musical direction using the sequenced soundtrack was by Samantha Smith, and it was certainly impressive as some of the songs are not easy to sing with long intros and precise timing required, but these eight and nine year olds never appeared to miss a beat.
Costumes designed by Samatha Smith and Sophie Kelk were well thought out with each main cast member completely kitted out as Barrie’s original character, particularly Tinkerbell, Captain Hook and of course Peter Pan himself. The crocodile, played by Charlie Bifield was probably the most amusing with a paper mask of a crocodile head attached to his forehead denoting his character.
Our narrators for the evening were Bertie Coucha and Hermoine Moore confidently guiding us through Netherland. Coco Sharp was a very elf like Peter Pan, obviously revelling in the part. His sidekick, Michaela Fuertes Morentin was quite a sassy Tinkerbell who kept us smiling throughout.
David Rusu was a wonderful Captain Hook, sternly waving his hook at everybody, including the audience as he absolutely revelled in playing the baddie. Ably backed up by Lauren Darnell as his boatswain, Mr Smee.
Yasmeenah Sanni was a very impressive Wendy Darling with a strong confident performance. Charlie Davies and Daniella Dairi as Mr and Mrs Darling, with Louis Jacklin and Florence Cooper as the children John and Michael Darling backed her up very well indeed.
Then we had an a very enthusiastic group of Lost Boys, all in matching shirts: Tooties (Soren Schneider), Nibs (Theo Macinnes), Curly (Erin Wharton), The Twins (Lennie Harmsworth & Beatrice Regueira-Howe), Slighty (Laiken Pickering) all with a few lines each, plus Darcie Davies, Nicole Grigaliunaite and Bee Caley.
And furiously waving silver cutlasses around, health and safety beware, our pirates were: Starkey (Alicia Kershaw), Cecco (Daisy Wright), Bill Jukes (Nicola Crawley-Roberts), Cookson (Matilda Maddison) plus Maddison Robinson, Maya Matthews, Olivia Shea, Alice Vasey-Knapp, Hassan Shakir, Mila Swords and Laiken Pickering as the ship’s cook.
Add to that some Mermaids in very sparkly skirts: Michelle (Annie Murphy), Rochelle (Daniella Dairi she also played Mrs Darling), Seashell (Emilie Gurycz), Bombshell (Niyah Ahmad), Shelly (Imogen Lewis), and Liza, The Darlings Maid (Elise Van Moppes), Nana the very cute dog (Matilda Felice), Peter’s Shadow (Emile Curycz), Chief (Charlie Davis, who also played Mr Darling) and Tiger Lilly (Mollie Horgan).
And the large chorus was divided into two teams, the one we saw was the Blue Ensemble
This was very much a cast at the beginning of their careers and starting to learn their craft. There were occasional quite long pauses between scenes as this large cast struggled to make their entrances and exits, words were gabbled quite a lot making following the plot hard at times and despite the radio mics they did need to both slow down and enunciate clearer. This I am sure is nothing more than excitement/nerves and will with experience naturally resolve itself. However the enthusiasm for performing on a stage was obvious and first and foremost they were thoroughly enjoying themselves. Some of them at least will have ‘got the bug!’ And I very much look forward to the superstars they will no doubt become.
So well done Director Danielle Reynolds, her cast and crew. They did 4Sixteen Theatre Company proud.
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