Wendy and Peter Pan reviews round-up at the Barbican Theatre London [Updated]

"Toby Stephens brings a dastardly relish to Captain Hook"

"This swashbuckling adaptation of Peter Pan delivers both magic and poignancy"

"Over half a century since Maggie Smith starred as Peter Pan at the Coliseum, her son Toby Stephens plays Captain Hook at the Barbican, combining great dastardly relish with a palpable melancholy about the passing of time. That mix of swashbuckling fun and profundity encapsulates the appeal of Ella Hickson’s 2013 adaptation of JM Barrie’s story. Jonathan Munby’s staging duly delivers both magic and poignancy."

"If there’s a downside to the sophistication of this version, it’s that some of the dialogue might fly over the heads of younger audience members."

"Hickson brings out what’s latent in Barrie’s art, without making the whole thing funereal. That lightness of touch is assisted in no small measure by fantastically zesty, often balletically physical performances that combine broad brush-strokes with nuanced detail."

"There’s terrific work from Daniel Krikler – enchanting, athletic and leaderly as Pan... He’s matched by Hannah Saxby’s Wendy, charmingly formidable yet buckling under the demands made on her as a surrogate mother."

"All told, a splendid treat – the only pity is that it must make way for another RSC transfer, Twelfth Night, just as the festive season begins."

"Heavy stuff but lightly done"

"Ella Hickson’s adaptation sees the Royal Shakespeare Company explore sibling death and queer subtext alongside the pirates and crocodiles"

"Pirates! Crocodiles! The exuberance of human flight! Ella Hickson’s rollicking adaptation honours the adventure and enchantment of JM Barrie’s 1904 play about a boy who won’t grow up while also exploring its psychological depths."

"t features a nimble Daniel Krikler as a feral, sybaritic Peter Pan, Hannah Saxby as a physically gung-ho, jolly-super Wendy Darling, and Toby Stephens as a winningly louche Captain Hook. The design, the effects and the vibe are all spot-on."

"Weird that the company has chosen to remount this child-friendly show now and programme the chewier Twelfth Night for the Barbican’s lucrative December-January Christmas slot. Weird too that director Jonathan Munby hasn’t curbed some of the flab and faff that creeps in at the edges of Hickson’s script"

"This is heavy stuff but lightly done. Elsewhere, Hickson strikes a less certain balance between celebrating Barrie and reappraising his Edwardian values."

"Stephens’s Hook, irritably downing daiquiris in a black wig and makeup like a kabuki Gustav von Aschenbach, is a masterful comic turn."

"... the choreography, combat and aerial scenes are beautifully done. On balance, magic."

"Hannah Saxby gives a startlingly physical performance as Wendy"

"Daniel Krikler’s Peter teeters deftly between anarchic young boy and posturing adolescent"

"If all of this is sounding a little serious, fear not: Hickson’s script is stuffed with laughs, and Jonathan Munby’s exuberant direction ramps up the fun."

"And there’s spectacle too. Boisterous pirate fights (although their sheer volume starts to dilute their impact), plenty of whizzing about on aerial wires, and a staggering set from Colin Richmond"

"Adding so much questioning to Wendy’s questing does draw things out a fraction too long, and little bottoms will fidget by the end of almost three hours"

"A feminist fairytale"

"There is a case to be made for making Wendy more than a meek surrogate mother to the Lost Boys, but this handsome spectacle had too many tweaks and distractions"

"Adults have plenty to mull over, but I’m not sure that Ella Hickson’s feminist-tinged journey to Neverland ... will win over every child. While it delivers some handsome spectacle in the course of a long evening, my inner eight-year-old (yes, even critics have one) found his thoughts wandering to what flavour ice creams might be on offer in the foyer."

"Hannah Saxby’s Wendy certainly knows how to handle herself in a sword fight... Yet the enhancements that Hickson has made to her character make a less-than-smooth fit with the rest of the tale."

"Daniel Krikler’s Peter has lots of toned, manly muscle, even if he remains a child at heart."

"As Hook, Stephens gives us a thoroughly jaded reprobate who lacks the panache and old-school venom we’ve come to associate with the role."

"Bleak and beautiful, but more suited to misty-eyed adults than actual kids"

"This show’s punchier second half benefits from a horde of dastardly pirates and Colin Richmond’s gorgeous set design"

"Now, it's getting a belated London premiere at the Barbican, offering a fascinating, feminist riff on a classic – albeit one that’s more suited to misty-eyed adults than actual kids."

"Lolita Chakrabarti makes a rare return to the stage as their grieving mother, offering a sedate counterpoint to Toby Stephens’s delightfully jovial antics as Mr Darling."

"The gloom takes a while to dispel. When Daniel Krikler’s Peter Pan crashes through the window, Hannah Saxby’s awkward, prickly Wendy isn’t enchanted – she’s suspicious."

"Hickson’s approach is an intelligent, contemporary way of refocusing this story. But it’s also a welcome relief when Wendy finally finds her inner adventurer in this play’s punchier second half."

"Jonathan Munby’s production feels far more confident in the classic Peter Pan territory of swashbuckling sword fights and dastardly pirates, with Stephens bringing all the cut-glass accented, camp villainy you could hope for to the role of Hook."

"There’s plenty to intrigue its audiences over its overly long two-hour-45-minute runtime – though sadly without offering them that soaring sense of wonder that’s made Peter Pan immortal."

"The RSC’s feminist Peter Pan update is great fun, if a little clunky"

"... some clunky characterisation and awkward modernisation mean that it never truly soars."

"Original director Jonathan Munby’s production is certainly visually sumptuous."

"There’s also a bold directness to some of the changes that Hickson makes to the story."

"... awkwardly anachronistic references to ‘sliding into your DMs’ are just a bit cringe, as if the writing can’t trust its own modern thematic undercurrents."

"But even if the play can’t help but compulsively spell out its points, there’s still fun to be had along the way. The fight scenes are great"

"Daniel Krikler impresses as Peter, a tangle of loose-limbed bluster. Meanwhile, as Captain Hook (and Mr Darling), Toby Stephens eats most of the scenery before the crocodile gets round to eating him."

"Can Wendy and Peter Pan take flight in this classic with a twist?"

"The RSC’s new take on the JM Barrie favourite, at the Barbican, reinvigorates the magic of Neverland with a few topical tweaks"

"I loved the original play, notwithstanding the odd moment when it underlined its feminist stance too consciously. It reinvigorated the queasy magic of Neverland and didn’t skimp on the family-friendly set pieces as it did so."

"There is still magic here, not least in that flying. It’s fun to spend time with the lip-smacking lounge-lizard mendacity of Toby Stephens’s Captain Hook. He and Daniel Krikler, as an athletically rough-edged Peter, are two of the evening’s big successes. But the show can feel like a jumble of good ideas"

"Hannah Saxby’s Wendy is lively and likeable but not quite as outright fascinating as the script wants her to be."

"There’s rather a lot to like here. There’s also, at 2hr 45min including interval, rather too much time in which to like it."

"Sugar-rush spectacle with an awfully big hormonal hot-crush"

"The RSC production of Ella Hickson’s feminist take on JM Barrie’s tale has grown into quite the theatrical monster, big on lights, waves and clashing cutlasses"

"... it seems as if this Royal Shakespeare Company production from 2013 has not aged well itself."

"Despite the reframing, she remains strangely tame, duly playing at being “mother” to the Lost Boys, full of uncertainty, self-deprecation and guilt for most of the play."

"Directed by Jonathan Munby, it is quite the theatrical monster now, with dazzling lights and a sea of video projections... It should all arrest the senses but seems like a cheap sugar-rush of spectacle that does not hit the spot."

"Despite the pace, it drags. What might, in its original state, have been radical now appears like a soulless stage juggernaut – a mix of big optics Christmas and pantomime."