Peter Pan Goes Wrong at Southampton Mayflower Review
DISCLOSURE – TICKETS TO SEE THE SHOW WERE GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW
Reviewed by Mandy Barras
I was very excited to hear that ‘Peter Pan Goes Wrong’ was coming to The Mayflower in Southampton, I had previously seen ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’ at The Lighthouse in Poole some years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it, so had high hopes for this show.
This is a fab comedy by co-authors Henry Lewis, Henry Shields and Jonathan Sayer who are all members of The Mischief Theatre Company.
The story is based on the fictitious Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society putting on a show and what could possibly go wrong?
The Mayflower Theatre is located in the centre of Southampton close to several car parks and a good rail link. It is a beautiful venue, and I was really pleased that I had the opportunity to review this show.
The show actually started as soon as we had walked into the auditorium with the stage crew causing chaos which included audience participation. They were still fixing the set on stage and looking through the audience for a missing prop.
The show is as the title states but along with all the disasters, we have the added comedic farce of it all going horribly wrong.
Based on the story of Peter Pan we saw complete mayhem as Peter Pan himself crashes through the windows and into the walls. Tinkerbell is electrocuted and Nana the dog gets stuck in the door.
There was plenty of slapstick comedy along with the frequent malfunctions, awful acting and incompetent stage crew.
There were some very funny moments and the audience seemed to be really enjoying it. Although aimed at children over the age of 8, there was plenty of humour aimed at the adults with innuendos going completely over the heads of little ones.
The scene changes were very slick and kept the action moving, it was filled with lots of surprises and you were sat there wondering what on earth could go wrong next. You even had the occasional stage hand coming on stage to cover some of the lead characters due to some accidents.
There were some impressive and hilarious quick costume changes too, especially from Jamie Birkett who played Annie playing Mrs Darling, Lisa and Tinkerbell.
The cast were absolutely brilliant and it’s hard to pick out some star performers. However, Clark Devlin who played Dennis playing John Darling and Mr Smee stole the show for me. We were advised by the co-directors at the beginning of the show that Dennis had been struggling to learn his lines so they had provided him with headphones so they could cue these to him. I won’t spoil the fun, but with the occasionally wrong signal coming through to his headphones it had the audience roaring with laughter.
There was also the occasional malfunction of different audio coming through the speakers and with the discussion of poor Max who played Michael Darling and the Crocodile and how he wasn’t good enough to play Peter Pan and was only in the show because of his uncle’s hefty donation to the society being blared through the speakers, he definitely gained the sympathy of the audience. But as Act 2 unfolds and he gets to step into the role of Peter Pan, only time will tell if he can get the girl of his dreams.
I would certainly highly recommend this show for anyone seeking a good night out with a load of belly laughs thrown in, I can assure you that you won’t be leaving the theatre without a smile on your face. The Mischief Theatre Company have certainly produced a great evening of entertainment on all levels.
If you need cheering up, then get yourself a ticket quick via the Mayflower Box office on 02380 711811 or via their website.
Performances are Tuesday 24th – Saturday 28th November and range from £19.50 to £42.50.
Reviewed by Mandy Barras
Rating: 5/5
https://www.mayflower.org.uk/whats-on/peter-pan-goes-wrong-2023/