The Stage

Peter Pan

Published Thursday 7 April 2005 at 16:00 by Gavin Roebuck

Northern Ballet Theatre celebrates the centenary of Peter Pan with a new production, complete with pirates, fairies, wild animals and feats of flying.

Artistic director David Nixon choreographs and Peter Mumford creates the sets and lighting, bringing the Darling family’s home, Captain Hook’s pirate ship and the magical landscape of Neverland to life with Oscar-winning composer Stephen Warbeck writing his first ballet score, which has all the memorable music of a film score. Peter Pan is a good title and should be doing good business. Certainly the children in the audience were enthralled, though the theatre was far from full.

The production has plenty of style in the manner of a musical. The children fly with joy and there is clever movement with Peter and the Shadow (Tobias Batley). Tinkerbell is a tiny winged doll on a stick manipulated by a dancer - how disappointing it must be to go through all it takes to become a ballet dancer and end up moving a puppet around, even if you swap roles during the run.

The birds and beautiful mermaids were an example of style lacking choreographic substance. Though the dancers all have a good technique, there was no unforgettable choreography, undervaluing the abilities of the dancers including Peter, played by Hironao Takahashi and Wendy (Desire Samaai).

This is perhaps more a musical without songs than a ballet. With pirates and fights more fun than frightening and the dog, crocodile and other animals suitably engaging, it is good family entertainment.