Peter Pan * * *
at Birmingham Repertory Theatre
Review by Terry Grimley
To say Rachel Kavanaugh's production is leisurely would be an understatement: yesterday's matinee performance stretched to a stupendous two hours, 55 minutes.
A cutlass could usefully be taken to it, perhaps starting with the first half of the second act, where time eventually seemed to stand still. I noticed I was beginning to hear more sound from bored children behind me than I was from the actors on stage.
What happened next, though, was instructive. We suddenly reached a crisis in the story - Tinkerbell saving Peter by selflessly drinking the poison - and for the first time the children's active participation was sought. Everyone instantly snapped to attention.
I forget which song we'd all just been nodding off to, but there was one before it, Look Back Through a Rose-Tinted Eye-patch, which I can't imagine would be missed if it was heaved overboard.
This is the UK premiere of the musical version with rather flavourless music and lyrics by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe and a book by the late Willis Hall which puts a damper on the action with its imposition of a grandmotherly narrator.
Yet the initial signs were more promising. Edwardian London at dusk is beautifully evoked in the first scene and there are some pleasing theatrical tricks when Tinkerbell (a nifty red laser light) rummages poltergeist-like through drawers and shelves looking for Peter's shadow.
But there is not much more theatrical magic where that came from. While designer Peter McKintosh makes Neverland look attractive with its blue palm trees and predominantly red costumes, I began to think
we were never going to get to the pirate ship.
Contrary to some celebrated interpretations, this one has a male actor in the title role, albeit one wearing a skirt. Peter Caulfield presents him as a blend of punk, new age and Boy Scout.
But the real problem with this show is that it doesn't seem to have made up its mind what it wants to be - a kids' show, a bland modern
musical or a laboured reflection on the already exhaustively expounded themes of JM Barrie's classic.
