UK Theatre Network

Surely if you've seen one pantomime you've seen them all? Like the Christmas present you've already identified before it's been unwrapped, you may well assume you already know panto and its well-worn conventions, and that it's not for you. If that's the case you're in for a surprise with Jemima Levick's Peter Pan. Yes it entertains children with its own childlike sense of wonder but, unlike other pantos it also sends up the old conventions, giving the production a unique sparkle.

The characters are not your standard pantomime line-up. The typically whimsical Peter Pan has added depth as an adolescent really struggling to come to terms with his feelings for Wendy. Similarly Hook is not your average villain, instead he seems to self-consciously 'play the baddie'. The conflict between good and evil drives the plot so we might expect a more sinister Hook, even if the role is played tongue in cheek. Nevertheless the doubling up of Stuart Bowman as both Hook and Mr. Darling makes for a clever and unsettling comparison: is the father who mischievously spikes Nana's milk really so different from the pirate who maliciously poisons Peter? The doubling up of Tiger Lilly and Liza the nurse is equally unusual and Francesca Dymond switches between the roles with ease. Similarly casting a male Tinkerbell provides a refreshing alternative to the traditional panto dame. While the interpretation of Nana as a sweep reluctantly dressed up as a dog seems a little contrived, it nevertheless reinforces the overall theme of the play as a make-believe story put on by the children.

Interpreting the play as the children's fantasy is a clever twist that makes the story more believeable for adults as we then see it through the eyes of a child. The idea of play-acting is also brilliantly explored in the way the production is staged. Francis O' Connor's fascinating set centres round the children's giant bed which is magically trasnformed into the play's many locations, as if the children have never left the nursery and are instead pretending to be on an adventure. The stage itself also changes form, with the actors' suggestions: one moment they mime swimming, as if they're at sea, and the next they mime skating on ice. Even the kite that carries Wendy to safety cleverly doubles as the crocodile, continuing that sense of creative potential that children see in things.

Indeed while the production is unusually throught-provoking, with its unconventional characters and ironic approach to the fantasy, it still appeals to the younger viewers' sense of wonder. Not only does the vibrant, ever-changing set leave the audience eager to see where we are going to be taken next, but the illusions are equally compelling. The flying and combat scenes are convincing and skilfully executed and throughout there are touches of magic, like the sequence in which all the boys miraculously fit into Wendy's tiny house!

To sum up, Levick's Peter Pan is all about playing, whether with the conventions of pantomime or in the sense of play-acting or just childlike playing for its own sake. Instead of being formulaic this panto is, on the contrary, a celebration of free-thinking that would make Peter Pan proud. Indeed although I've been a panto Scrooge in the past, now the next time someone suggests that 'If you've seen one panto you've seen them all', I'll be the first to say 'Oh no you haven't!'.

Felicity Thomson

Peter Pan, The Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh
27th November 2009- 3rd Janaury 2010