Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield – until 1 February 2020
Reviewed by Sophie Dodworth
3***
Mischief Theatre are back in Sheffield on their tour of Peter Pan Goes Wrong. Mischief has come a very long way in a short few years, starting from a group of theatre students. They made their debut at a gig with less people in the audience than on the stage in 2008. Their first production of The Play That Goes Wrong made The West End in 2015 then Broadway in 2017. This is their second production with the familiar style of slapstick and chaos running through it.
The plot follows The Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society as they mount their haphazard amateur production of the J.M Barrie’s classic. Whatever the possibilities are of something going wrong on stage, it will happen here. There is a constant stream of gags and jokes, although sometimes too much, which has many of the audience in stitches. The company are in the audience before the show starts in the same style as their first production, meeting people in character and setting the scene. This is a real crowd pleaser and almost gives you the feeling of getting a bit more performance for free!
The energy that each cast member puts into this two hour performance is respectable and they really are giving it their all. However, it is felt at times that their efforts are a little lost with the repetitive unnecessary gags, for example the character Dennis, played by Romayne Andrews. What a talented actor but once you have laughed at the fact that he is being fed lines via his earphones and reading everything out verbatim, it gets tired.
Highlights of the show must be the musical numbers, displaying the vocal talents of Katy Daghorn, playing Wendy and Pheobe Ellabani playing Mrs Darling, Lisa, Tinker Bell and Tiger Lily. They both have songs which are sang around and with the rest of the cast and are uplifting and a welcome break from some of the lib. You are also treat to a well rehearsed dance routine during one of these numbers in the second half.
Ellabani must get a mention for the pace of her role and her ability to be in the right place at the right time, in the right costume. She plays four different characters (with a theme of fast changes) and she must be exhausted after each show. Tom Babbage plays Michael Darling, Mermaid and the Crocodile and is an intentionally likeable lad who plays the ‘feel sorry for me’ very well, he gets lots of ‘ahhhs’ and support from the audience.
This production is more ambitious than The Play That Goes Wrong in a lot of ways, more technical for sure, it is a shame that it is not as good, albeit it does have a lot to live up to.
Fun and uplifting.