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Revision as of 08:44, 29 July 2019

Poster by Bryon Fear

by J M Barrie

Directed by Tom Melly

Performances: Tuesday 23 to Saturday 27 July 2019, Old Fire Station


Introduction

Text about the play

Cast

Crew

Reviews

Sardines Review - Chris Abbott

This was my first visit to South London Theatre in their recently restored home in the Old Fire Station in West Norwood. It’s an interesting adaptation of the space with a black box studio replacing their original proscenium theatre and the creation of various other spaces for rehearsals and hire, which must be a good source of necessary additional income to help run a large building.

On the hottest day of the year the prime spot sought by audience members was in front of the air cooler in the bar, but the auditorium was not as hot as outside, and an excellent production of Peter Pan soon took our minds off the heat of the day.

Director Tom Melly opts for a shortened version of the play although making use of some of the later additions suggesting that Pan’s visits would become a regular event for each generation whilst he, famously, would never grow up. These extra sections are effectively staged with some nice touches, but perhaps make the story too complex for the commendably short running time.

Framing the action at start and finish is Audrey Lindsay as a nicely under-stated but beautifully spoken portrayal of Mrs Darling and, after a deft costume switch, the adult Wendy. Her three children are portrayed by adults but without some of the over-playing that occasionally results from this type of casting decision. David Clements is a suitably pompous John and Roisin Deady convinces as a determined and forthright Wendy. As Michael, Alice Kiff gives a fine performance and without any of the unfortunate excesses of child-like acting that sometimes occur; but what a shame that her tight-fitting costume does her no favours in making her portrayal of a boy convincing.

Among the Lost Boys, Oliver Adkin is a confident Slightly and serves as an effective leader of his disparate gang. The suitably villainous and mostly female pirates are nicely differentiated and very much look the part in Panit Chantranuluck’s costumes. As is often the case, it is Smee who catches the attention, in a very funny and well-judged performance by Lois Savill, who knows how to time a comic line.

In the title role, Laarni Cornista-Hollebon is a very agile and athletic Peter Pan, well able to swing in on a rope or slide down a pole, and able to handle the pathos and sentiment of the character too. Opposite her is Christopher Vian-Smith as a sardonic and world-weary Captain Hook, only slightly villainous but well able to handle the humour of the role as well as his famous dying speech.

There are some very clever touches in this production and an effective (though uncredited) set. In a play which has a shadow at its heart, it was good to see excellent use of shadow puppets (although do try to keep the shadow of the operator’s head out of view). The uncredited puppeteers also create an effective pack of wolves and the crocodile. The flying scene with the children is delightfully achieved with humanettes, a very clever touch which needs just a little more time for the effect to be noticed (and perhaps black clothing that fits better to hide their normal costumes).

I thought the decision to have Nana dressed as a servant with a rubber dog’s head worked less well, despite the efforts of the actor inside, and the actor/puppet twins among the Lost Boys doesn’t totally convince – but it is always good to see a production willing to experiment and do things differently.

As the programme acknowledges, J.M. Barrie dreaded his play becoming a pantomime, but it is so well known in that genre now that the audience began booing Captain Hook and even shouted “He’s behind you!” at one point. The second half also begins with a panto-style UV scene which is nicely planned but played against a white screen rather than a black curtain, with operators not wearing hoods and with white collars and cuffs appearing from their blacks. This is a great shame as the sequence has been carefully planned and uses effective puppets, especially the coup de theatre of the giant polystyrene crab. In full blackout this sequence would look stunning.

Despite the occasional reservation, this is a confident, entertaining and well-rehearsed production with a level of originality seen all too seldom in productions of this play. I look forward to returning to SLT.<ref>Sardines Review - Chris Abbott</ref>

Gallery

Reminiscences and Anecdotes

Members are encouraged to write about their experiences of working on or seeing this production. Please leave your name. Anonymous entries may be deleted.

See Also

Have there been other SLT productions of this play? Link to them here.

Or add anything that is related within this site. The author's page for instance or other plays with a similar theme.

References

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External Links

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