We are very lucky to live quite close to the beautiful town of Stratford upon Avon, home to the RSC theatre. I have seen a number of plays there over the years and I always leave the theatre inspired and in awe of the way the productions have been put together.
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| PHOTOS FROM WENDY & PETER PAN BY MANUEL HARLAN |
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| PHOTOS FROM WENDY & PETER PAN BY MANUEL HARLAN |
The production is an emotional rollercoaster with moments that will make you roar with laughter and moments that bring tears to your eyes. Wendy is brilliantly portrayed by Fiona Button and I have no doubt that the young females in the audience will all love this stronger, feistier character who stands up for what she believes in and is not happy to play ‘mother’. Peter Pan is played energetically by Sam Swann and L in particular loved his childish behaviour on stage. But we both agreed that the characters of Captain Hook and his sidekick Smee played by Guy Henry and Gregory Gudgeon were our favourites as they were hilariously entertaining, followed closely by the not so tiny Tink played by Charlotte Mills.
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| PHOTOS FROM WENDY & PETER PAN BY MANUEL HARLAN |
The sets were brilliant and L sat open mouthed when the Jolly Roger ‘sailed’ onto the stage. The music was toe-tappingly uplifting and the flying added an extra dimension to this magical story.
It was really interesting to watch L’s reaction to this play as he hasn’t been to the theatre that often and at nearly three hours long, he had to sit for a long time, but he was captivated by it. Slightly unnerved by the claps of thunder early on, he spent a lot of the evening attached to my arm, but he laughed and he cried (although he wouldn’t admit it). He loved it and has talked about it a lot over the last couple of days, having also read the program from cover to cover. It also lead to a very profound conversation on the way home about death and whether or not Neverland was like Heaven for children, so it certainly made him think too.
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| PHOTOS FROM WENDY & PETER PAN BY MANUEL HARLAN |
It is a truly wonderful production and I cam away thinking that I really should take the children to the theatre more often as it such a good experience for them. I would happily go and see Wendy and Peter Pan again and I wholeheartedly recommend it for both adults and children alike (the recommended age is seven plus).
From 16th December Puffin Books are offering one winner the prize of four tickets to see Wendy & Peter Pan in Stratford-Upon-Avon on Saturday 18th January along with a copy of the original book Peter Pan. To enter they will be asking people on twitter to follow @puffinbooks and ‘clap if you believe in fairies’, using the hashtag #ClapClap. The competition is running from the 16th – 20th December.
It sounds amazing! I would live to take my kids 🙂
I am clapping away here! I believe! Love Peter Pan, definitely something I’d take Kitty to see x
Awww how magical!! Love going to the theatre at this time of year!
Sounds like a very moving play, I’d like to go and see it for myself.
I would love to take my girls to the theatre, I think the eldest would love it but the little one maybe too little at the moment. You may have inspired a “girls day out”
This reminds me of when my mother used to take me to see a pantomime on my birthday each year. There are perks to being a December baby. 😀
This theatre sounds really good what a great competition.
I went today with my husband and our two daughters (10 and 6). It was truly fabulous! An exhilarating, often hilarious, and moving experience for us all. As the mother of two girls I was thrilled at the ingenious way in which the writer has both subverted and enhanced the original story here to show that girls don’t just have to be passive damsels in distress waiting to be rescued by the bold, dashing hero, they have more options than to simply play ‘Mother’ and can take on the world and have adventures themselves. There were many thoughtful moments which had us discussing the play for a good couple of hours afterwards: the early demise of the younger brothers obviously leads to discussion of death and grief, (particularly pertinent as we have had three grandparents die in the the last 2 years), and gender relations were a key ongoing issue, but there were other fine ‘philospophical’ moments interspersed within the witty and sparkling dialogue – one particularly wonderful conversation between Wendy and Martin (a failed pirate) was about how we can’t live our lives like characters in novels and plays (even though we might want to) because the writer always knew where they were headed nd fixed the ‘middle’ to fit the ‘end’ – which means we are all floundering through the middles of our lives/narratives because we don’t know where we’re heading. Instead of this being a negative, bad thing, it was suggested as something exciting and wonderful instead. The production itself is spectacular! The acting was top-notch. My 6 year old was enthralled from start to finish… and my 10 year old hasn’t stopped talking about Peter Pan (he WAS rather eye-catching) and the ‘kiss’ – which was all very sweet.