Theatre Review
Production: Peter Pan
Playwright: J.M Barrie
Director: Tim Carroll
Company: Stratford Shakespeare Festival Of Canada
Venue: Avon Theatre
Run: June 12th to October 31st 2010

Reviewed By: Kindah Mardam Bey

Mostly you feel like a grown up, but on the rarest of occasions you can distinctly remember what it feels like to be a child, full of hope and wonder all those many years ago. This will be easy to do in 2010, as taking a trip to the Stratford Shakespeare Festival to see the Peter Pan production will transform any grown up back to their youth. Magic isn’t just Tinker Bell’s virtue, it is also this production of Peter Pan’s greatest virtue.

Tim Carroll masterfully makes a very sophisticated play appealing to audiences of all ages. In fact, the theatre was full to capacity of every age imaginable, but the years just seemed to blend into one once Peter Pan took to the stage. It is also worth noting that the children in the audience were extremely well behaved, and I would attribute that in large part to the captivating quality of Peter Pan that J.M Barrie created all those decades ago.

In case you were deprived of this story as a child, in which case I wonder if you had a childhood at all, Peter Pan is the story of three Darling children – John, Wendy and Michael, who live in the Victorian age and have a large St. Bernard dog as a Nanny. One evening when Mr. & Mrs. Darling go out, as grown-ups often do, the children of the Darlings are surprised to find a young boy enter into their bedroom through the window. Filling their heads with wildly imaginative stories Peter Pan entices Wendy, John and Michael to Neverland where they meet the Lost Boys, Mermaids, Captain Hook, the Amazons and so much more perfect displays of impossibilities and imaginings. Wendy, although the same age, is to be a “Mother” to the Lost Boys as they have no Mother of their own and need someone to direct them in their daily lives. Wendy agrees if Peter will be her “pretend” husband and this distinctly unique family carry on play-acting until change inevitably reminds Wendy, John and Michael that they are children themselves and must return home to their worried parents. Truly, you couldn’t wish for a more magical story.

The Stratford Shakespeare Festival’s version of Peter Pan was remarkable and positively doused in fairy dust. The costumes and sets were stunning. As if watching a children’s book illustration come to life, Neverland was a composite of vibrant colours, layered textures and stage magic that was even hard for ardent theatre goers to figure out. Captain Hook’s ship seems to appear out of nowhere and larger than life floats in on an imaginary ocean – the adults and children alike were stunned at the spectacle.

Captain Hook was positively delicious from head to foot. His richly textured blood-red costume looked like haute-couture for villains and Tom McCamus’ performance was completely perfect. McCamus also played the dual role of narrator as playwright J.M. Barrie and seemed to slip between mild-mannered author and hook wielding self-important villainy with ease. McCamus would have stolen the show if the sets had not already done so. Sara Topham as Wendy was, as always, a professional to the very core. Michael Therriault as Peter Pan seemed to be the ideal choice and when Therriault’s Peter would interact with Topham’s Wendy, the stage would light up with a poetic innocence.

The Lost Boys, six in total, worked perfectly in unison as a bunch of wayward, ADD driven, under-loved, overachieving young boys desperate for Wendy’s affections. Also, definite props to Jay T. Schramek as Nana for being such a scene stealer without showing his face once.

The special effects were also a delight as Tinker Bell being a light that could open and close drawers and windows, the clock ticking alligator and Peter’s wayward shadow. Some old school techniques were implemented but kept fresh and new for an audience eager to believe in magic.

Peter Pan is about believing and this year’s production at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival was something to believe in; now all we need is a little bit of Tinker Bell’s fairy dust and we can all fly away to Neverland.