Sunday 2 February 2014

Theatre Review: Wendy & Peter Pan

(Image: Manuel Harlan from the RSC website)

I know, another theatre review! I guess I've just seen quite a lot recently that's been worth talking about. Wendy & Peter Pan, so called as it's supposed to be Wendy's side of the children's classic story, was the RSC's big Christmas show this year but the run doesn't finish until March. I was really interested to see it as loads of people from my youth theatre had seen it and returned with very mixed opinions - some said it was fantastic, others hated it and described it as throwing round feminist terms for the sake of it. With that response, I had to see it for myself.

I have to say, I really liked it. To be honest, I was struggling to see what people could hate about it as there was nothing that stood out to me as being awful! First off, the set used throughout was incredible - complete with skull-encrusted pirate ships and slides into underground grottos, it was very visually impressive. I loved all of the flying and the use of physical theatre as well as I think it made it really magical. I actually thought that although it was aimed at kids 11+, I definitely wouldn't want to take anyone much younger than that as parts of it were quite dark and there was some more adult humour included for the parents. I thought parts of it were quite funny and that the script was well-written. Although it pretty much stuck to the original story of Peter Pan, they included some backstories such as why the Darlings' parents were unhappy as they were which were really interesting and added to the story, I thought. Now, for the feminist thing: yes, Wendy was arguing that she shouldn't have to be the damsel but as for bandying around feminist terms unnecessarily, I didn't think that was true at all. It touched on society's constructed male and female roles but other than that it really wasn't mentioned explicitly. I thought that Sam Swann and Fiona Button who played Peter and Wendy respectively were brilliant and really threw themselves into their roles.

In summary, I really enjoyed it and would say that it is well worth watching. I thought it was really magical and an interesting retelling of a well-known classic. It's on in Stratford until the 2nd March if you're interested in seeing it.

6 comments:

  1. Fab post doll :) I need to go to the theatre more often :)x

    The Belle Narrative - Enter my fabulous MAC Makeup Giveaway

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    1. Thank you :) I love going whenever I can!

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  2. I love going to the theatre, I really need to go more. Love this picture too, so magical!

    beautyandtheb1.blogspot.co.uk

    B xx

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    1. Me too! It's so cute isn't it, there were loads of nice ones so it was hard to pick which one to use!

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  3. i love going to the theatre! my sister went to see Mamma Mia yesterday, i was jealous

    check out my blog?
    http://georgiaanicolaou.blogspot.co.uk

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    1. Ah Mamma Mia is so good! You should definitely see it if you ever get the chance.

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