Review: Admirable acting but Peter Pan show could be better

Heartbreak, as an open-air production company, is well versed in coping with the vagaries of the English summer and, although it was a beautiful evening, it could all have been so different.

The clever and amorphous set of scaffolding poles and ladders becomes a boat, a plane and a pirate ship by turns. The cast of five actors, supported by local dance groups, coped well with an audience on two sides of them. I’m not sure this worked to anyone’s advantage.

We know the story – or do we? This version was set in a troubled skate park where the ‘lost boys’ are from a children’s home and Wendy, the ‘posh’ kid, is looking into a political controversy with a Captain Hook look-a-like at its core. We are intended to find our ‘inner child’ by joining in the raps, dances and chants. Peter (Danny Milwain) was a last minute stand-in and coped very well with the acrobatics in the production on top of everything else. Romy Alexander as Wendy was extremely good in a difficult set of roles - particularly as the interpreting Indian princess.

In the ‘treat to watch’ award was Darryl Hughes, particularly as the fey pirate Smee – nice work.

Benjamin Leslie provided a thorough support and shone as the amazing croc on a bike, Ben Thorne made a great Hook and his lovely and unexpected Tinkerbell dance was enchanting.

There is a lot to enjoy here, though it did feel it was a little sloppy at times - particularly at the start, when the audience were unsure if the show had actually started. If dispensing with traditions, there need to be more clues, particularly if you are aiming for a young audience unsure of what is SUPPOSED to happen. The programme was no help; beautifully designed but I finally found the actors’ names and many characters on the fifth reading and there’s no proper synopsis or useful information about length or interval.

Jane Howard