Mischief Productions brings its West End hit, Peter Pan Goes Wrong, to The Arts Club Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage until October 16th.
Photo: Eric Kozakiewicz, for The Citadel Theatre, Presented by arrangement with Mischief Theatre Worldwide In association with Arts Club Theatre Company
Written by Mischief’s Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, Henry Shields this play finds, the fictional Cornley Drama Society attempt to bring a production of J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan to the stage. In amateur dramatics anything can happen, and in this production anything and everything does happen. Try as they might, the Cornley Players can’t seem to get anything right, it all goes wrong from start to finish. While the decidedly amateur players struggle with varying degrees of ‘professionalism’, the backstage crew can barely keep the lights on. Miscasting, backstabbing and personal rivalries ensue especially as more ‘technical difficulties’ wear on the actors as they attempt to persevere with their production.
The calamitous play within the play presents the audience with some of the most uproarious comedy. While not actually a pantomime, it doesn’t stop the audience interacts directly with the stage, especially some of the younger fans, the actors to showcase their improvisational skills, really highlighting the talents of the brilliant cast. The cast, each one of them brilliant in this cast, also stretches to the “backstage crew” many of whom play multiple roles, as do the actors onstage.
As the phrase goes “dying is easy, comedy is hard”, for this production to appear to be dying on stage, the comedy is indeed hard-work. For each of the hilarious mishaps to appear unstaged, Peter Pan Goes Wrong is probably more carefully choreographed and directed than many productions. Lead by directors by Adam Meggido and Fred Gray, it is clear that the entire creative team have put in the utmost precision into their departments to make sure nothing actually goes wrong for safety of all involved. With so much action and comedy unravelling before our eyes, Peter Pan Goes Wrong is a play that could be watched again and again to catch every hilarious moment.
The North American Premiere of Peter Pan Goes Wrong is produced in collaboration with Citadel Theatre and plays until October 16, 2022 at The Arts Club Theatre Company’s Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage. Details, showtimes and tickets are available online at artsclub.com
