TV Show of the Week: Peter Pan Goes Wrong

This is the first time I’ve written about two TV shows in one week, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to recommend Peter Pan Goes Wrong. Cornley Polytechnic Dram Society’s stage play about Peter Pan had me in tears from the very beginning.  Amateur stage performers putting on an innocent play couldn’t be more simple, but right from the beginning, things start falling apart and actors forget their lines, say the wrong things, and props start falling apart, it almost makes you believe they aren’t professional actors pretending to be amateur, but that’s what made it as great as it was.

They say that you need to be ‘a good actor to act bad.’ Deliberately falling over a prop, fluffing your lines at a particular moment, walking into a door; you need to know timing, what to do, your lines, and how to react accordingly when these “mistakes” are made, that’s why I believe these actors are not getting all the credit they deserve. They were so good acting bad, there were moments when I genuinely believed they had made a mistake, or he wasn’t supposed to be shouting at the audience, or that prop really shouldn’t have broken, but instead the entire show was maliciously thought out from beginning to end. Everyone knew exactly what they were doing and when, and the result was a successful failing play that was hilarious without fail.

Not only is there the story of Peter Pan, but there’s a loose story intertwined throughout that sees people growing in confidence, and getting with people they should be with. You felt sorry for the one who has stage fright, you’re laughing at the one who has to wear a headset and be told his lines because he just cannot remember them, you’re feeling sorry again at the actor playing Peter because the ropes enabling him to fly just would not work properly. There was so much packed into a single hour, I just didn’t stop laughing.

Peter Pan Goes Wrong is currently available to watch on BBC iPlayer, but it won’t remain there for long as it will disappear in 27 days’ time. Whilst that is plenty of time for all of you to watch it, it needs to be released on DVD at some point in the year, to give everyone else the opportunity to see this masterpiece, giving the actors the credit they truly deserve.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)