It’s surely the
best opening in literature: “All children, except one, grow up.” As J.M.
Barrie’s Peter Pan, a tale of
childhood and growing up – of dreaming and pirates, adventures and flying and
giant ticking crocodiles – unfolds across the walls of your mind (and,
appropriately, the open-book corner of Belvoir’s upstairs theatre), it’s hard
not to feel as though you’re a part of it, whether you’re an adult, a child, or
a child-at-heart.
Nothing compares
to or prepares you for the homespun earthy magic of Belvoir’s production.
Directed by Ralph Myers, Belvoir’s Peter Pan is just
about the most beautiful piece of theatre you could see this summer, full of
the crazy infectious kind of dreaming and playing and make-believe that children excel at so
well, and it’s a tribute to the collective imaginations – of both the creative
team, the cast, and the audience – that this production works as well as it
does.
