Peter Pan Goes Wrong is a fun comedy play. It’s about a theatre company who put on a production of Peter Pan – but during their show, things quickly start going wrong. It’s a hilarious two hours of everything that could possibly go wrong on stage. Here’s my Peter Pan Goes Wrong theatre review.
Overview of Peter Pan Goes Wrong
Peter Pan Goes Wrong is based on the popular story of Peter Pan, and how Wendy and her brothers join him in Neverland. Most people know the story of Peter Pan, so my Peter Pan Goes Wrong theatre review shouldn’t give any spoilers about the story!
Peter Pan Goes Wrong is produced by the same company who created ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’, which is a murder mystery play that, as it’s name suggests, goes very wrong when being performed. I’ve seen The Play That Goes Wrong and enjoyed it, so I was looking forward to seeing Peter Pan Goes Wrong.
Peter Pan Goes Wrong follows a similar theme – it’s about a theatre company putting on a play that goes very wrong when being performed. The performance covers the whole of the Peter Pan story – just! But throughout the show, there are pieces of stage that fall over, flying accidents for Peter Pan, injuries and electrocutions of other cast members, cast not getting changed in time so appearing in their underwear…and so on. One cast member ends up in a wheelchair for the second half. There’s also a romance between Peter and Wendy, and then between Peter and Tinkerbell. And then Wendy being very angry when she discovers them during the play. There’s a pirate ship that won’t stop tipping, and pantomime aspects as well. It’s 2 hours of good-natured comedy that will have you smiling and laughing.
What I liked about Peter Pan Goes Wrong
Overall, I enjoyed Peter Pan Goes Wrong. I may not have been laughing out loud throughout the whole play, but I was definitely smiling a lot, and laughing at times.
My favourite part was the ending, when the pirate ship kept tipping from side to side as the cast sang the ‘Yo Ho’ pirate song. Peter Pan was flying chaotically above, and then the rotating stage kept rotating so we kept seeing other parts of the stage that weren’t meant to be seen, such as the paramedic trying to treat the latest injury. This is where Wendy discovered Peter Pan and Tinkerbell together (much to her horror), and the funny aftermath of that.
My favourite character was the Crocodile, who also played one of Wendy’s brothers. The play was designed to get the whole audience to love him and be on his side. He was portrayed as the underdog, and we all heard an accidental recording played where the play directors were disparaging his acting skills. His love for Wendy was unrequited, as she was with Peter Pan. But by the end of the show, the whole audience was cheering for the crocodile, and for him to get together with Wendy. It was very clever how the play managed to get the whole audience fully behind the crocodile as their favourite character.
What I wasn’t so sure about
I definitely enjoyed this show, but I wasn’t completely in love with it. I found some of the humour quite same-ish throughout. There was a lot of humour based on parts of the set falling over and cast getting injured. This included the bunk beds collapsing on the children, and also the ‘dog’ getting stuck in the door. Tinkerbell got electrocuted, and one of the lost boys ended up in a wheelchair. Peter Pan got injured when flying (and then his trousers fell down while in the air). There was a repeated gag of the light switches not working. One scene ended up with too much theatrical smoke so then no one could see anything. A lot of it was quite funny, but it was all quite same-ish. I felt like this type of humour lost some novelty after a while.
I didn’t quite get the humour of the narrator. It was funny when he threw glitter saying he would disappear and then didn’t, but overall he wasn’t my favourite character.
I also thought they slightly overdid the gag of having recordings played of conversations we weren’t meant to hear. It was funny the first time, but I felt like I didn’t need to be repeated. This comedy theme was also used for Wendy’s youngest brother. He hadn’t learned any lines so was wearing a headset and repeating lines he was told through the headset. This then led to him repeating backstage comments that he wasn’t meant to say. Again, I thought some of this was funny, but just felt like it was slightly over-used.
Would I recommend Peter Pan Goes Wrong
Overall, my Peter Pan Goes Wrong theatre review is positive. I did enjoy the show, and was smiling throughout and laughing at times. It was an enjoyable evening, with some funny ideas for comedy. The comedy felt like it was suitable for most ages. I probably wouldn’t be in a desperate rush to see this play again, but I still enjoyed it.
Hope you enjoyed my Peter Pan Goes Wrong theatre review! Check out my other theatre reviews for more shows in the West End, across the UK and the world.
