Reviewed by Laraine Ball
August 2011
This very traditional version of the play telling the story of the Darling children’s adventure with Peter Pan and the Lost Boys was very well staged and told the story well.
Directed by Judy Sampson the young cast had bags of energy, good expressions and used the space very well. All the cast knew their lines and the singing was excellent.
The only let down was an obvious technical hitch with sound whereby the individual mikes failed to work for most of the show and it was difficult to hear a lot of the dialogue.
Not many of the cast managed to rise above this difficulty with only a couple of exceptions.
Hebe Sayce made a gorgeous Peter Pan and managed to convey lots of confidence but with just enough self doubt to be believable.
Kate Vanderhorst was excellent as Wendy a young girl just on the cusp of womanhood with all the mixed emotions showing clearly.
Maisie Fabry was a brilliant and dashing villain as Captain Hook and was well supported by her band of fiendish pirates and Lucy Gale did a great job of Tinkerbell, despite being unable to vocalise, her messages were extremely clear to the audience.
The set designed by Richard Dall had the lost boys on one side and the pirate ship on the other with centre stage being used for other scenes such as the Darling’s house and the Indian Camp and this arrangement worked very well with very little time lost between scenes and very few blackouts needed.
Costumes by the Senior Students looked great and were just right for the era, the lost boys being suitably dishevelled.
This show was fun and the audience, especially the little ones thoroughly enjoyed it.
