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High flying hopes
Peter PanWelsh National Opera
Birmingham Hippodrome
*** FOR more than 100 years the mischievous
image of Peter Pan has endured as the lasting representation of the
child’s imagination, inspiring the likes of Disney and filmmakers across
the world to adapt and adopt the flying boy as their own. The need to make the story one’s own seems to be
the starting point for Lavinia Greenlaws’ libretto and adaption of the
story. Promoted as a family opera there is little other than the
oversize toys and on stage flying to keep the young ones entertained. This is because there is a dark undercurrent of
regret and malice running through the entire production and rather than
the boys own swashbuckling Peter we are familiar with, the family seems
to have suffered the abduction of their children by some dark force and
in the end the parents carry the guilt of their leaving due to their
neglect and lack of love. It’s a far cry from the romantic and innocent
version you may traditionally have known and this is further developed
in Richard Ayres angular and sparse music, where there is little room
for sentiment. With nothing in the way of any recurring theme,
other than a percussive clockwork phrase that signals the passing of
time, the opera is a progressive series of All of this complexity is displayed in the
opening 10 minutes on Jason Southgate’s inventive set. The father, Mr
Darling, is seen commuting to his white collar job oblivious to the
birth of yet another child, a third, only to comically rubber stamp its
arrival at the office.
Counter this to the mother, seemingly becoming
increasingly paranoid for some reason against the backdrop of the
suffragettes with some terrifying figure lurking outside. Is that the
forgotten child Peter come back to haunt and terrorise his mother? This
is all before a note has been sung and staged with a procession of
inventive moving props and large scale vehicles whose arrival continue
throughout the production.
Hilary Summers as the mother Mrs Darling cast a
deep troubled tone to the atmosphere with the appearance of Peter one
night at the window. With the resonant singing of Ashley Holland adding
more patronly weight to the household, his otherwise serious demeanour
was lightened somewhat whilst suffering a slight wardrobe malfunction in
the moustache department during his role of the father, Mr Darling, and
reappearance as the evil captain hook. Wendy was played by Swedish Born Marie Arnet and
is permitted the longest and most distinctive passages of singing of the
three children. The role of Peter was delivered by Iestyn Morris who did
a fine job of singing whilst flying above the main stage. One of the
most poignant moments is when Wendy approaches the untouchable Peter
whilst he is sadly recounting his troubled past. Another tough moment that seemed a little
needless was with Hook and the Pirates and the casual appearance of a
quite realistic severed head of a pirate which is passed around with
some amusement. I think this level of graphic content is a long way from
the Peter Pan JM Barrie might have imagined. Overall the psychological complexity of the
characters seems a little unbalanced to the jovial spirits of the
inhabitants of Neverland and the constant arrival of yet more props
often overshadows both the singing and music . Directed by Keith Warner it’s an adventurous and
multi-layered production that has gone a long way to unearth and develop
the adult overtones of Barrie’s story. Similar to how this story has
been adapted in a variety of ways by others over the years, this
production seeks to reinvent it both visually and musically against a
vision of a loveless Victorian family life and whilst admirable it just
doesn’t fly as well as it could. Jeff Grant
11-06-15
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tense phrases that border on the experimental during the Lost boys fight
sequences.