Peter Pan

The Matinee performance at the Burton Brewhouse was full of families with young children eagerly waiting to see the magical story of the boy who never wanted to grow up - Peter Pan.

What I loved most about watching this performance was the obvious enjoyment of all the cast, but then who doesn’t like to dress up as a pirate!

All of the children performed with confidence and character, not letting the rather difficult songs put them off their stride. The adult company worked well and did a great job of developing their different characters. In particular (and I’m sorry I can’t put a name to the face yet) the first pirate to die – ‘ONE!’. Your movements, facial expressions and interactions meant my eyes kept being drawn to you, you were really fun to watch, well done. Mr Darling and Captain Hook had great stage presence and lovely masculine, strong voices which were very easy on the ear. Mrs Darling and the Storyteller were played with ease and their lovely, quiet, subtle performances stood well in contrast to the over-the-top characters in Neverland.  Peter Pan, was a very dashing young man with a strong voice. Although I think more boyish charm in your delivery of dialogue and your movements would have made it easier for us to believe that you were the age of a boy who still had all his baby teeth!

I can’t wait to come and watch a show where the ensemble get to sing together more and wow us with the beautiful harmonies and tones that we caught a glimpse of in the final number of this show. That was a goose bump moment and I’m only sorry the writers of the show hadn’t included better ensemble songs for you to get your teeth into.

The costumes were great and really helped capture the essence of the show. I loved the fact that Peter wasn’t dressed in the traditional green. The set worked really well with the different levels, trap doors and secret hide-aways. Interest was continually created by the varying ways in which the cast could move around the stage. I smiled every time the cast came through the revolving doors at the bottom of the pirate ship, brilliant way to exit and enter. I wanted to have a go!

It was a shame that the written show by Drewe and Stiles wasn’t as good as the likes of others they have written -’Just So’ and particularly ‘Honk!’.  It was part pantomime and part play with music, but not enough of either to really sit comfortably, few of the melodies would be hummed by the audience on leaving the theatre and the dialogue lacked the humour and detail needed for the audience to really feel involved.  Well done to the production team for making the show work well for the cast and audience.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.