A set that falls down; countless missed cues; and an accident prone cast. You would be forgiven for thinking that these calamities were merely symptomatic of staging a press night on Friday the 13th. Whereas, in fact they were actually intended hiccups in the aptly named play Peter Pan Goes Wrong. Those that are familiar with Mischief Theatre’s previous work will know that any production staged by their fictional amateur dramatic society: Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society, tends to be littered with disastrous mishaps. For this year’s production they have set their sights on a retelling of the J.M Barrie classic Peter Pan, but as the title of this hilarious show suggests anything that could possibly go wrong does.
Peter Pan Goes Wrong is the epitome of a well crafted farce, as it feels like they’ve combined comedic elements from shows like One Man Two Guv’nors; Faulty Towers and a fair few Monty Python sketches - resulting in an accomplished piece of theatre that had the entire audience in hysterics through out. Much of the humour relies on visual slapstick inspired gags, for instance a rotund Robert (Henry Lewis) repeatedly gets stuck in various parts of the set. I lost count of the amount of times that Lewis and the rest of this young cast were hit on the head with various props and collapsing scenery. It didn’t seem to matter how many times these tropes were used, they still continued to be funny every time they occurred. I think this was largely thanks to the stellar cast’s exaggerated and pained reactions and also their impeccable comedic timing. I can’t remember the last time I saw a piece of theatre where the audience’s laughter provided an almost constant soundtrack to the production.
Peter Pan Goes Wrong in many ways is a homage to the feeling of schadenfraude. Playing on the idea that an audience will often find an unintended mishap on stage funnier than any of the scripted jokes. The true brilliance of this piece comes from the fact that everything that went ‘wrong’ comes across as completely believable. Thanks to Martin Thomas’ clever set design when pandemonium occurred it never looked staged. The play also draws many of its laughs from the idea that Cornley Polytechnic are a low budget community theatre group. Or more precisely parodies the type of characters that take part in amateur dramatics such as: Chris (Henry Shields) the group’s director who is the definition of an overacting theatre ‘lovey’ and Sandra (Charlie Russell) whose interpretation of Wendy is surly and uncharacteristically streetwise. Personally, I thought that the standout performance of the evening was Dave Hearn’s Max, a grinning simpleton who had only been cast as the crocodile because his father was lending Cornley Polytechnic a motor to power their rotating stage. I’m sure it will come as no great surprise to hear that during the battle scene on Captain Hook’s pirate ship the rotating stage, goes out of control and the cursed cast are trapped as they unable to stop it from moving.
Mischief Theatre are a talented young company and their similarly titled The Play That Goes Wrong was recently been nominated for Best New Comedy as part of the WhatsOnStage awards. In my opinion, deservedly so. They seem to have found a formula that works extremely well, I am keen to see which play they will successfully dismantle and transform into a farce next. The phrase ‘fun for all the family’ is all too often bandied about and misused. However, personally I can’t think of a more fitting description to describe Peter Pan Goes Wrong. I throughly enjoyed it, as it provided a refreshing alternative to a conventional Christmas show. I would be utterly astounded if this play doesn’t cause you and your clan to erupt into fits of hysterics.
Peter Pan Goes Wrong is playing at The Pleasance until January 5th for tickets and more information please visit www.pleasance.co.uk
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