PETER PAN. To 16 January.

Oxford

PETER PAN
by J M Barrie Book and lyrics by John Doyle Music by Sarah Travis

Oxford Playhouse To 16 January 2005
Mon-Sun various dates 10am, 11am, 2pm, 4pm, 6pm, 7pm
Audio-described 15 Jan 2pm & 7pm
BSL Signed 30 Dec 2pm
Runs 2hr 10min One interval

TICKETS: 01865 305305
www.oxfordplayhouse.com
Review: Timothy Ramsden 24 December

A production that could be something else if only it weren't for Christmas.Director John Doyle has carved a niche during recent years in the presentation of stylish musical theatre, high in poetic staging with actors playing instruments and a single setting evoking mood rather than realistic settings, be that a room or a pirate-ridden Neverland.

Washed in Richard G Jones' colourful lighting, Liz Cooke's set presents a magical dream before the action's even started. The musical intent's there in a grand piano used by Helen Anderson-Lee's Mrs Darling to accompany the extended opening song which recurs later and develops the production's theme: that Peter Pan is the imaginary friend, now of Wendy but of her mother before her. (Men nowadays make the most romantic feminists).

Mrs Darling, in her long elegant dress, suffuses the action during the Neverland scenes. Her watchful feminine presence, filled by emotional understanding, contrasts the masculine destruction of the children's father James, doubled by Simon Walter with Captain naturally - James Hook; shocked at Hook's actions Mrs Darling repeatedly addresses him as her husband. The unconvincing hook hanging on his arm effectively points up the palimpsest. And the nasty medicine he funks taking is from the same bottle as Peter's, poisoned by Hook and drunk by the self-sacrificing Tinkerbell played by Mrs Darling with the aid of a small handbell.

This psychoanalysis of Barrie is fascinating but won't do for Christmas expectations. Hook also has to promote himself as a pantomime villain with curdled gravel voice and leers audience-wards to encourage villain-hissing stalls and circle. And there has to be the singsong (however craftily tied to the plot). Doubtless it makes thousands happy. But it compromises Doyle's instinct for depth in musical theatre.

As director Doyle marshals a beautifully flowing panorama, the beds suspended during the Neverland scenes as reminders of the dream, or imaginative, life. Standing (or flying) in as Peter, Emma Courelle plays to perfection including the clarinet imported from her original role. Her gelled hair and boyish strut show both the vitality and limitations of Peter's way at the end he hovers on the fringes in the giant window as life goes on below.

Peter Pan: Justine Koos
Wendy: Joanna Hickman
Mr Darling/Captain Hook: Simon Walter
Mrs Darling: Helen Anderson-Lee
Nana/Smee: Jon Trenchard
Bill Jukes: Simon Tuck
Cookson: Emma Correlle
Lisa/Tiger Lily: Michelle Long
Cecco: Adam Stone
Starkey: Jez Unwin
John: William Abell/Richard Henley
Michael: James Bailey
Nibs: Joe Harrison/Joe Ridley
Slightly: Pieteke Marsden/Lizzie Yaxley
Curly: Dominic Short/Rory Gilchrist
Twins: Bridie Shepherd, Dominique Conlon/Caitlin Barclay, Eleanor Vickers
Tootles: Sam Boyd/Gregory Vickers

Director: John Doyle
Designer: Liz Cooke
Lighting: Richard G Jones
Sound: Graham Naylor
Assistant director: Graham Hubbard

2004-12-31 01:01:38