I’ve been a fan of Mischief Theatre for many years, and “Peter Pan Goes Wrong” was the first show I saw from the company back in 2015. So I was very excited to revisit the show almost ten years on – and I was not disappointed.
The set-up is as you would expect for any of the productions in the “Goes Wrong” series (other shows include “The Play that Goes Wrong”, “Magic Goes Wrong” and “The Goes Wrong Show” on BBC). Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society have been given a big stage and a budget to put on their own unique production of J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan. The problem is, the actors are all amateurs and the show does not go to plan. (That’s not a spoiler, by the way, it’s literally in the title.)
The play doesn’t poke fun at amateur theatre, rather celebrates it. Despite everything “going wrong”, the actors never give up, and strive to make the production a success, flying (literally in Peter Pan’s case) in the face of adversity. The play is introduced by Chris Bean (Jack Michael Stacey), the director who also stars as Captain Hook and insists that the play is serious drama and not a pantomime. Needless to say, the audience were not on board with this, and there were many heckles throughout!
Competing for the limelight is the co-director Robert (Matthew Howell), who multi-roles as Nana the Dog, Peter’s (mildly seductive) shadow and pirate Starkey, who spoke in a voice that I can’t quite describe but was incredibly funny. The highlight of the show for me, though, was Jean-Luke Worrell as the Narrator and pirate Cecco. I previously saw Worrell in Cluedo, and his animated, pantomime expressions were just as impressive this time around, drawing the audience’s attention every time he was onstage.
There is an additional storyline playing out amongst the “cast” of Cornley Drama Society as well, with the actor playing Peter Pan (Gareth Tempest) in a relationship with Wendy (Ciara Morris), but having an affair with Tinkerbell (Jamie Birkett). Meanwhile, the actor playing Michael (Theo Toksvig-Stewart) fancies Wendy, and is trying to be cast as Peter so he can be close to her. It may come across as a little stalker-like, but Michael successfully won the hearts of the audience, with everyone cheering for him in the end when he finally got the girl (that is a spoiler, sorry).
Completing the set up is Clark Devlin as Dennis (who cannot remember his lines and has to be fed them via a headset that keeps getting tuned to various radio stations), Rosemarie Akwafo as Lucy (a member of the youth group who gets stage fright – and for good reason, it seems, as she ends up getting injured in numerous different ways) and Jake Burgum as technician Trevor (who we surprisingly get to see quite a lot of, not just in terms of stage time, but also in terms of body parts).
Overall, this is a great night out at the theatre – slapstick comedy at its finest, with this touring cast being just as good (if not better) than the original West End cast. Jokes are never dragged out for too long, and mostly land perfectly. A great night out, and I can’t wait to see more from Mischief Theatre in the future. Snap snap snap!
Tom Morley, February 2024
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