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Peter Pan
Castaway Theatre Group
The Octagon Theatre
Yeovil
Friday 1stJune 2018
An invitation to watch any Castaways show is always a pleasure to receive: the remarkable Yeovil-based youth group never fail to impress me with their commitment, hard work and the sense of fun that pervades every production. The Fantastic Four: Director Lyn Lee Brown, Choreographer Kirsty Beaumont, Assistant Director Tammy Lloyd and Secretary Andrea McLaughlan who run the Castaway Theatre Group do far more than put on theatrical events. The more I have come to know the Castaways the more I see that the group has a social function too: group holidays, trips to perform at Disney and even playing on the Drury Lane stage in London’s glamorous West End! Experiences gained by successive groups of kids since the inception of the group in 2005 must have had a hugely positive influence on a vast number of young lives.
The cast of the show I enjoyed last night comprised around forty-five performers; this was Team Pan. Team Peter, comprising the same number delivers alternate shows through the run. Ninety young performers having the time of their lives and learning so much: Teamwork, commitment, discipline and self-confidence, let alone the clear performance skills they joyfully demonstrated throughout Peter Pan.
The choice of staging Peter Pan for this large group was a good one: strong principal roles to showcase individual talent and an enormous number of active, chorus parts to involve all of a large group. I must admit, however to not being a big fan of this particular version: The Piers Chater Robinson adaptation of the JM Barrie play sticks fairly rigidly to Barrie’s original. Robinson inserts a handful of pleasant though rather repetitive songs and I wonder if the somewhat stilted, old-fashioned dialogue Robinson keeps from the Barrie version is particularly easy on the modern audience’s ear, causing much of the potential humour to be missed. The opening scene is over-written and even with the most energetic delivery, drags. I must also say that this is a reflection of the writing – not the performances.
Musically, the band under expert MD Matt Holman-Holmes and featuring such alumni as Gill Merrifield and Lynne Merrifield were exemplary. Singing too was strong and tuneful from principals and ensemble alike. The Octagon’s professional in-house tech team provided very attractive and effective lighting and the sound was very good indeed. A very large cast of young performers using head mics can be a nightmare for the audio department but crackles, hisses and bumps in the night through the sound system were conspicuous by their absence. Clarity, aided by some excellent diction and projection from the cast was certainly the order of the day. Oh, and making four children fly! Wow!
Performances were great to watch: There was a real focus from all of the chorus, all stayed resolutely in-character, acting and reacting with concentration and good believability. The Lost Boys looked great in their tatty rags and the Indians looked just like the Red Indians of my boyhood imagination. Large chorus dance routines, thanks to Choreographer Kirsty plus plenty of rehearsal, worked well, with good synchronisation.
Principal roles were well cast: I saw Team Panand George Souster’s John,Tobias Clifton’s Michael, Skye Dorland’s Wendy, Poppy Wells’ Tinkerbell and Jessamy Bowditch’s Peter were all played with charm and quality. Supporting roles worked well too: Ella Martin was funny and engaging as Smee, Liv Brown was pleasingly grumpy as Liza and Ashley McLaughlan was sweetly canine as Nana. I must make comment too on Paul Graham, yes he’s an adult but he nailed the role of Hook – a terrific performance. This was a real team effort so it feels a little unfair to mention stand-outs, however Skye Dorland as Wendy showed us a potential star of the future – a lovely voice and good presence and Jessamy (although not the best written role I have seen her perform) gave us her usual, easy to watch, natural performance.
I thoroughly enjoyed being entertained by a fabulous team of performers who were clearly thoroughly enjoying entertaining us. I made a rather negative comment about the libretto above but there was nothing negative about the way this cast and production team set about their business. This was a big show, on a big stage and big performances carried the day. Your audience loved it, as the standing ovation showed.
Castaways: more of the same please: I think that this grumpy old reviewer might be beginning to believe in fairies!
Thanks for inviting me