I've wanted to see this on stage for a while, having only previously seen the TV special from a few years ago. I hadn't actually realised it was on tour and only noticed it with a few weeks left to run. Luckily, in the last two weeks of the tour it visited the two venues closer to me. I wasn't able to attend the Birmingham show due to other shows already booked, including strangely enough, another Mischief Theatre production, Magic Goes Wrong. So that left Coventry on the final day of the tour. I was planning to see another show on the evening at the Birmingham REP, so I was lucky to be able to get a decent seat for the matinee. This was my first visit to the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry, and the inside of the theatre, including the foyer are very nice indeed. Seats in the theatre are good too, with pretty much good visibility from any seat. My seat cost only £23.
I arrived at the theatre around 11;30, bought the programme and then set off to find the stage door. There I was lucky enough to meet one of the actors who informed me that the actors usually enter through the foyer. Another bonus, as I was able to sit in the warm lobby while I got my programme signed by the majority of the very nice cast. I remarked when I went the Magic Goes Wrong show in London how very nice all the cast were, and I don't know if it's a trademark of the Mischief Theatre, but this cast were all stunningly nice as well.
The play itself (NOT a Pantomime) is J.M Barrie's tale of Peter Pan, Wendy and Captain Hook, performed by the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society led by it's director Chris Bean and leading actor Robert Grove.
The play is hilarious. Even before it starts the audience is laughing, as the onstage cast and crew mix with audience looking for missing items, trying to fix lighting problems and dealing with escaping actors. If you've seen any of the other Mischief plays like 'The Play That Goes Wrong' or their recent TV series 'The Goes Wrong Show', then you'll know what to expect. Be warned, if it can go wrong it will wrong in this 2 hour opus of hysterical hijinks.
The set is a brilliant revolving stage, that moves from the Nursery, to the Neverland Forest, Mermaid Lagoon and Captain Hook's Pirate Ship, and then back again, sometimes at dizzying speeds. There is also a fantastic underwater scene, absent from the TV special, that was just incredible.
The touring cast were all fantastic, and they all get their share of the limelight, although the crowd warms to Dennis played by Romayne Andrews and of course Max played by Tom Babbage, who really gets the crowd going. George Haynes plays a brilliantly annoyed Chris Bean, and Oliver Senton is great as Robert. James Marlowe plays Jonathan who is Peter Pan, and in great arrogant style goes round the audience offering to sign autographs. Phoebe Ellabani plays Annie and is a fantastic over the top Tinkerbell. Katy Daghorn is absolutely delightful as Sandra, and Georgia Bradley plays Lucy, the actor with stage-fright, who suffers a lot of mishaps in this play. Patrick Warner is a brilliant suffering Narrator, trying to hold everything together, and Ethan Moorhouse plays Trevor, the no-nonsense stage manager who appears on stage a little too often. Eboni Dixon, Christian James, Ava Pickett, and Soroosh Lavasani are the onstage crew, as well as being undertudies for the main roles, which I've heard they are all very good at as well.
Unfortunately it was the last day of the tour so I am unable to tell you to go see this absolutely wonderful show. If you wanted to laugh for 2 and a half hours straight this was the show to go and see. I am sure they will tour again in the future though. In the meantime however the Mischief Theatre Guys will be touring their Groan Ups comedy in the Autumn so please do book yourself a ticket for that one. I will be. They also have shows in London as well, please check their website for details :
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