This week, audiences in Cardiff are in for a real treat, as the creators of The Play That Goes Wrong return with another catastrophic but award-winning disaster.
In fact, if this was any other play or pantomime, it would be a complete and utter nightmare.
There are stage and costume malfunctions, as well as a few surprises in the auditorium, so keep those eyes peeled! Lines and queues will be missed, there will a blatant disregard for health and safety (in any other setting), as well as backstage antics put in the spotlight for all to see. If it could go wrong, it probably does and that’s what makes this show a masterpiece. In fact, I’m so impressed with the dysfunction of it all, we’ve booked to see it on Friday too, just to see if they can do it all again.
Now if you have seen any of the other brilliant works by the Mischief Theatre Company, you might be thinking that you’ve seen it all before. However sir, madam, you will be mistaken.
The story follows that of an amateur dramatics society, who has been able to secure funding to put on their adaptation of Peter Pan. It’s a tale as old as time and it’s one that has evolved since James Matthew Barrie’s creation, and has jumped in and out of pages, on screen, off screen and onto stages for years. Who doesn’t know the story? Well, it turns out that the Cornley Youth Theatre has a thing or two to learn. Well, one thing that you can be sure of, they will do their upmost to power through, even if it kills them and the stage falls down around them.
However, before the play even officially begins, there are clues that this production isn’t going to plan. As you take your seats in the auditorium, stage hands appear who invite members of the audience to help fix an electrical issue, which is not only affecting the staging but the WMC itself. This isn’t the only occasion when the ‘fourth wall’ of theatre is broken, as audience participation is encouraged throughout. In fact, it was more engaging than most Christmas pantomimes.
The laughter was genuinely ‘laugh out loud’ from start to finish with a seamless transition of mishaps and tomfoolery. The only one trying to hold it altogether is Chris Bean (George Darling and Captain Hook), which made it even funnier.
There are many moments that will leave your sides aching from laugher, most of which involve Dennis Hyde (John Darling and Mr Smee), who is having trouble remembering his lines but not others. There is a particular moment when Captain Hook is trying to help poor Smee remember his lines, but inadvertently switch to say each others. This is followed by the difficult to understand pirate Starkey (Robert Grove) where their confusing conversations goes on for more than 5 minutes. In the end, I almost went and picked up the sword!
Francis Beaumont (Narrator and Cecco) didn’t know whether he was coming or going. Even the narrator couldn’t escape the chaos that unfolded.
Only a small number of the actors hold down just one role in the story, with many switching and swashbuckling between characters, which can only mean one thing – chaos.
But one individual, Annie Twilloil, is our favourite star of the show by playing three demanding roles of Mary Darling, Lisa (the housemaid) and Tinker Bell. I’m not sure how she does it, as often she needs to be in two, perhaps three places at once, but she does it.
Jonathan Sayer, Henry Shields and Henry Lewis, who together form the core creative team of Mischief, are just cogs in what is a wider company of highly talented individuals. Everyone works together in sync to deliver such split-second time antics.
They’ve also had huge success with The Comedy About a Bank Robbery, Magic Goes Wrong, two series of The Goes Wrong Show on TV, countless improv nights, a podcast and, of course, Peter Pan Goes Wrong, in which the hopeless Cornley Drama Society attempt – and hilariously fail – to stage a production of J.M. Barrie’s classic.
The show is full of slapstick humour and carefully choreographed disasters. In fact, it’s so wrong it has to be right.
This is Peter Pan like you’ve never seen it before and I promise you will love it! Prepare your funny bones, tuck in your sides, sit back and relax. We all need a good laugh from time to time and this show delivers and then some.
Peter Pan Goes Wrong is half way through it’s UK tour and is showing all this week at the Wales Millennium Centre (WMC) until Saturday, 27 January.
Tickets are selling fast, so if you want to see the show then be quick.
Age guidance: 8+ (no under 2s)
Running time: approximately 2 hours including an interval.
Start time:
Mon – Sat 7.30pm
Thu + Sat 2.30pm
To find out more and to book tickets, visit: https://www.wmc.org.uk/en/whats-on/2024/peter-pan-goes-wrong
