Peter Pan

**Peter Pan** is a production performed by Cornley Drama Society. It toured the UK and was performed on the West End. A one-hour version was broadcast on BBC 1 on 31st December 2016.

## Plot (TV version)

The narrator introduces the Darling family, Nana the dog, and Eliza the housekeeper. Mrs and Mr Darling leave, and the children go to sleep. Peter Pan flies in through the window and finds his shadow, which Mrs Darling and Wendy trapped in a chest. The children wake up, and Peter teaches them to fly and takes them to Neverland. When they get there, they find that Captain Hook has kidnapped Tiger Lily. Captain Hook comes to the hideout and follows their tracks down to the shore. Wendy and Peter hide as the pirates come to Marooner's Rock to leave Tiger Lily there. Peter impersonates Hook and convinces the pirates to let Tiger Lily go. Hook arrives, and Peter Pan fights him.

Back at the hideout, Wendy, Michael, John and Tinker Bell have an imaginary meal. ("The World Of Make Believe") Peter returns and tells them about his latest adventures. Wendy realises that it is time for her and her brothers to fly home. Hook adds poison to Peter's medicine, but Tinker Bell drinks it and becomes unconscious. She is saved when the audience chant that they believe in fairies. Hook and the pirates kidnap the children, but Peter comes to their rescue, and a battle ensues. Eventually, Hook and the pirates are eaten by the crocodile, and the children return home to their parents.

Of course, this being Cornley, not everything goes according to the plan. The director has a running argument with the audience over whether the show is a pantomime. A character, having his lines fed to him over a headset, also relays stage directions and crosstalk from other radio channels. The villain discovers how difficult everyday life can be when you have a hook instead of a hand. A lullaby is accompanied by the sound of power tools being used to free an actor who is stuck in a door. Both Peter Pan (twice) and the Narrator have to be substituted by other actors after being injured. The stage crew seem to have failed to master the operation of the flying apparatus, resulting in several injuries, and a lot of underwear being displayed. Another "wardrobe malfunction" results in an actor getting electrocuted. First Aid cover turns out to be unavailable at the moment it is most needed. Another character suffers two accidents, continues in a wheelchair, and has a third accident when it runs away - but despite this overcomes her stage fright to get the show back on track - twice - when other characters are injured. Pre-recorded sound effects and video clips are miscued, revealing embarrassing information about some of the actors. A complex love tangle involving four of the actors develops, (she resists temptation, only to have her loyalty betrayed), and this inevitably interferes with the on-stage action. Finally, the revolving stage goes out of control, and although Wendy is saved from the pirate ship as per the script, her rescuer is a most unlikely hero.

**Differences between TV and stage show**

The "BBC" Man played by Harry Kershaw in the TV production is an additional character. In the stage show Harry plays a member of Cornley named "Francis", who takes the parts of Pirate Cecco and the Narrator, roles played by "Annie" and David Suchet respectively in the TV Show. (Annie's quick on-stage change between her pirate costume and that of Tiger Lily was added to the TV show as she plays both characters - as well as Mary Darling, Liza, and Tinkerbell!)

The stage play is in two acts, the first act ending with Jonathan's crash to the ground, and the play resuming after the interval with "Robert" stalling for time by telling an anecdote about a tragedy taking place during a performance of "Oliver". In the TV show there is no interval, and the anecdote is related by the Narrator immediately after the accident. (The identity of the owner of a certain car is changed to correspond)

The entire stage show is performed on a revolving stage with three segments. Two of them depict, respectively, the Darlings' nursery and the Forest of Neverland. The third initially depicts the rooftops of London, then Marooner's Rock, and (in Act 2) the Pirate ship. The TV show uses fixed sets for the Darling's nursery (a simplified duplicate appears on the revolving stage), the rooftops, and Marooners Rock. The pirate ship which runs amok through various BBC studios and eventually crashes into the nursery set is a duplicate of the one on the revolve.

Some of the lines accidentally fed to Dennis over the headset are changed for the TV show. The "Teletubbies" line suggests he is getting crosstalk from a radio mike in another studio, and indeed the Teletubbies set is one of those later crashed by the pirate ship. (Another is a newsreader announcing the cancellation of the Community Drama Project that we had previously been told had sponsored the production). In the stage play Dennis relays both sides of an argument he hears over his headset between his prompter and her husband, ending with her walking out on both the show and the marriage. This is omitted from the TV production.

Songs: World of Make Believe

## Cornley Cast

* Peter Pan - Jonathan Harris
* Wendy Darling - Sandra Wilkinson
* Captain Hook/Mr Darling - Chris Bean
* Michael Darling/Crocodile - Max Bennett
* John Darling/Smee - Dennis Tyde
* Liza/Mrs Darling/Tinkerbell/Tiger Lily/Pirate - Annie Twilloil
* Nana/Shadow/Starkey - Robert Grove
* Tootles - Lucy Grove
* Himself - Trevor Watson
* Narrator - David Suchet
* Various Cornley crew members

## Trivia

* Harry Kershaw, who played the role of Francis (the narrator and Cecco the pirate) in the original production, appears as the BBC stage manager. This is because his role as the narrator was taken over by David Suchet.
* The intro before he play is different between the stage play and the BBC recording. The BBC recording has a brief introduction to Cornley Drama Society whilst the stage version has a longer conversion where Robert and Chris talk about past productions and things that went wrong like their Rapunzel production where Rapunzel had to be imprisoned in a Bungalow after an ill timed haircut.
* Robert, (as Nana the dog), and his niece Lucy (as Tootles the Lost Boy) both play characters of the opposite gender to their own.
* In the stage play, the scene where Robert catches on fire and Trevor runs on to put it out only to also catch fire, was cut due to timing. However, they re-added it to the television version in order to build the relationship between Trevor and Francis the manager.
* The scene where Sandra jumps onto Johnathon and pulls down his trousers was added to the television version due to the director believing that it would be too repetitive for them all to do the same thing like in the stage version. This scene was also because of a running joke in the writers room where Johnathon Sayer is always trying to add gags where Greg Tannahill is exposed.
* The park ranger on the lake who tells Chris to leave is played by Adam ,who is the director of the stage production.
* When Chris Bean falls into the swimming pool, he was actually supposed to fall into the original lake, but due to regulations they would had to hire a rescue team and someone to test the water so they had to come up with a gag where the location changes to a swimming pool. Also, you can see the costume designer, Roberto, in the swimming pool behind Chris.
* Max's Crocodile Outfit is the actual one from National Theatre's official Peter Pan performance and is made out of a military sleeping bag.
* In the television version, they had to cut some parts of David Suchet playing Poirot because the cast behind him kept on breaking character and laughing.
* In the original script, when Sandra discovered Annie and Johnathon kissing she and Annie would fight, but the actresses asked for it to change so that the two team up to fight Johnathon instead.
* When the Pirate Ship invaded other shows and then bursts through the wall of the nursery, they only had one take as it would destroy the set. However, when it burst through the wall of the nursery, it accidentally brought the entire set down instead of the one panel like intended.

## Quotes

* “Won't you sing us a lullaby mother? … No, Dennis! Speak with feeling, for God’s sake! … NO! NO! NO! DON’T REPEAT THAT, YOU IDIOT!”
* “And you sweet John are you feeling sleepy? **AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!**”
* “Thank heavens I didn’t wake the children!”
* “Three cabs. One for Mary, one for me and one … for … my … hat!"
* "**This is a terrible show** …. of cowardice, Tiger Lily! We’d thought you’d give up more of a fight!”
	+ “**You can’t act** …. in this way when the captain arrives.”
	+ “You have a sharp tongue now but you will tremble at the sight of Hook’s impressive **arse** …. *enal* of weapons back aboard the Jolly Roger!”

* “*Snap, snap*!”
* “Not you, Dennis! Walk away!”
* “A cab! WHY IS THERE A CAB IN THE SEA?!”
* “Dennis, you’re wearing the wrong costume.”
* “I know! I know he’s behind me! I directed the show! I told him to go there! You have to let me find him!! … Idiots.”
* “Shut up! What is wrong with you people?! This is a serious play!”
* “But Max can’t act! He’s terrible as Michael, and the crocodile. He’s playing it like a Mammal!”
* “Note: don’t use take one.”

## References

* Peter Pan Goes Wrong on IMDb
* Peter Pan Goes Wrong on TV Tropes