As those of you who live in London may know from the countless posters around, Peter Pan has finally returned home to Kensington Gardens, London. A new semi-permanent production has opened within the gardens it’s self minutes away from the house in which J.M Barrie crafted the famous fairy-tale. The show is housed in a specially constructed theatre in Kensington Gardens until September when it will embark on a world tour to New York and possibly Australia. It is not in essence a musical, but there is a small amount of singing within the production and it’s advertised as a play with music composed by Benjamin Wallfisch (Orchestrated and conducted Atonement and Pride & Prejudice) so I thought I could get away with writing a review on here! :P

I’m a massive fan of the story of Peter Pan and always have been so I jumped at the chance to see a new production of the story which promised to be not only epic but also focus on the darker aspect of the plot which I love so much. The light-hearted Disney version was always a letdown for me, the 2003 version was more like the Neverland described in Barrie’s books and play adaptation, and this new production of it so very almost makes it to being the perfect mix of the two. This is not Barrie’s version of the tale, rather an adaption by Tanya Ronder (has adapted various novels for the has adapted various novels for The Young Vic) but it is the staging which needs a mention first of all.

The theatre it’s self is plonked directly opposite the statue of Peter Pan within the gardens. It’s kind of like a high-tech big top and there are bar, toilet and souvenir facilities on site. When you go into the auditorium it’s self, the stage is shaped kind of like an exclamation mark, with a main round bit and a long bit leading off to a flat with three doors and a balcony level above. The stage is littered with trap doors used for bits of set to pop up out of, slide away through, actors to jump out of etc. but the main and most astounding thing is the use of 360 degrees seamless projections throughout the piece. When the children first fly with Peter to Neverland, the effect is beyond belief, you actually feel as if you are flying with them over Edwardian London, around Nelson’s Column, over St Pauls and past Buckingham Palace. This accompanied with the beautiful scoring by Wallfisch just about moved me to tears. The staging is, for the most part ingenious as the set stays mainly the same with the centre of the stage flipping to reveal a versatile mix of tree trunks and rocks which can be used as anything the actors require because the projections can so flawlessly move from one are to another and does not get boring. It does however get a touch confusing at points when there is a lot of people on stage at any one time but you just have to let your imagination go and you’ll be fine.

The puppetry within the production is also phenomenal. Those operating it are always clearly visible but you soon forget and see only the magical beasts of Neverland, the crocodile is un-like anything I’ve ever seen before and received a round of applause at it’s first appearance! I’d go and see the show again just for this section!

The actors are all, for the most part, fantastic. Jonathan Hyde (Titanic, Jumanji and countless productions with the RSC) as Mr Darling/Captain Hook is just fantastic with a great comic spin on the part while remaining subtly evil. Ciaran Kellgren plays Peter Pan, recently graduated from LAMDA, his energy never fails and his take on the careless boy who wouldn’t grow up is great. Abby Ford is another West End newbie, but plays Wendy really well, without falling into the normal pantomime “woe is me” character that she has become in recent years. The others are all extremely energetic and keep the world of Neverland alive for the whole 2hrs 15mins. The only thing I didn’t like is that they have decided to use an actress as Tinkerbell. Within the first few moments on stage Tink is represented by lights and sound effects and I felt it worked fantastically and really was wonderous but they soon changed this into a woman in a dirty tutu and tank top which kind of spoiled the magic a bit of me. The actress however plays her part well, and her flying work is particularly amazing.
The ticket prices are reasonable, we paid £24 I think, the cheaper section, but as it is in the round, you see the back of the actors as much as you see the front and do not miss anything. The souvenirs are a tad over-priced (a program was £8!!!!!) but the soundtrack is only £6.99 and t-shirts are the same as all other shows within London.

Overall, I’d say a bit of the story is lost within the spectacle of the production and there are perhaps things that aren’t needed (such as a random mermaid dance). The direction and the adaption are a little muddy, much more could be made of the love story between Wendy and Peter, Tink’s death etc. but I would recommend the show in a heart-beat for those aged around five-ten and anyone older who has loved the story of Peter Pan. But book quickly as I hear they’ve extended the run to September 13th due to overwhelming demand, if you miss it, you’ll regret it!

Here’s a trailer on youtube of the production, its been all professionally filmed and edited etc. in it you can see the flying, some of the puppets. The background music are some sections of the score to the show, no singing in these bits however. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2oMUK-5OSk