| Abysmal. If it pleases you, PETER PAN is arguably an easy shot for ridicule. It's unclear though why Bedlam, a bright, talented group of actors who have smartly deconstructed Shakespeare, Shaw, and Austen, has decided to go this route. What's on stage is a smug and entirely witless takedown of Barrie's play. On a presumably intentionally hideous and confounding set, six actors go to Neverland, or a version of it, flying, if you will, way above the material, looking down on Barrie's wistful--and, yes, probably diagnostic--yearning for perpetual youth. The stream of snark here is beyond tiresome; it's aggravating. And not because PETER PAN is sacrosanct. Far from it. But actors acting superior to what they're acting in is just annoying. And a great waste of time. |
