Hi Guys,
Welcome back another review! This time I went to go and see J.M Barries ‘Peter Pan’ at The Mercury Theatre in Colchester! With it being Peter Pan, as expected there were a lot of children with their families which surprising added a nice atmosphere to the whole thing! I am assuming and guessing that most of you if not all of you have heard the story of Peter Pan a million times before, but for the odd person who is reading this who hasn’t let me give you a brief overview. Peter Pan (played by: Emilio Lannucci) is the story of a little boy, who decides that he never wants to grow up. He runs away from his family and goes to live on the island of ‘Neverland’. There he is met and surrounded by all sorts of creatures, from mermaids to Indians. He also meets the evil pirate Captin Hook (played by: Pete Ashmore), who wants to revenge on Peter, for cutting his hand off and feeding it to a crocodile.
I am assuming and guessing that most of you if not all of you have heard the story of Peter Pan a million times before, but for the odd person who is reading this who hasn’t let me give you a brief overview. Peter Pan (played by: Emilio Lannucci) is the story of a little boy, who decides that he never wants to grow up. He runs away from his family and goes to live on the island of ‘Neverland’. There he is met and surrounded by all sorts of creatures, from mermaids to Indians. He also meets the evil pirate Captin Hook (played by: Pete Ashmore), who wants to get revenge on Peter, for cutting his hand off and feeding it to a crocodile.
Me with James Peake (Slightly), Emilio Lannucci (Peter Pan) & Nicholas Coutu-Langmead (Tootles)
A few years later, he comes across a house in London where he meets Wendy (played by: Charlotte Mafham), a thirteen-year-old girl who dreams of meeting Peter. They go over to ‘Neverland’ together and have big grand adventures.
Now here comes the negative part of this show, in the traditional story there are three children Wendy, John (played by: Nicholas Coutu-Langmead), and Micheal (played by: Alicia McKenzie). But in this version, John and Micheal are only mentioned at the very beginning and end of the show. This is me, for a massive disappointment! I do understand why they company had to do it, due to a lack of cast playing multiple different roles, which in turn actually works really well. In my option, if you are going to perform a really well-known story like ‘Peter Pan’ you have to have the four main characters.
Me & Charlotte Mafham (Wendy)
Anyway, now I’ve got that off my chest and out the way, let’s move on to the positives, and there are many! First, there was a great use of lighting, whether it was on land or at sea the lighting really set the scene. This is something I don’t often see so it made a really nice change. Next, comes to use of musical instruments! Throughout the whole show, all of the cast would play an instrument to sing songs or set the atmosphere! This for me is always a great addition. I have only ever seen this is one other time, and that was when I went to go see ‘Wind in the Willows’ last year. I loved the idea then, and I still love it now.
Honestly, I could go on and on about all the lovely things they did during the show, but then I’d go on forever, but there is one more thing I have to mention. Tinker-Bell (played by: Alicia McKenzie) whilst watching the show, I thought was just come up with random noises and talking complete rubbish, but after speaking to some of the cast after the show, it turned out that what she was saying was actually her lines! She had been given a script which actually had lines for Tinker-Belle which I thought was just amazing!
Photo of the stage before the start of the show. Everything is covered in sheets and is light by blue lighting
The VI Critic 