“Stop laughing, this is a serious show. This is a serious drama.”

That plea, delivered by an actor to the crowd, was a lot easier said than done at “Peter Pan Goes Wrong” at the Spokane Civic Theatre. Two hours straight of collapsing set pieces, wardrobe malfunctions and absolute onstage chaos had the crowd cackling from beginning to end.

As the title suggests, “Peter Pan Goes Wrong” takes the familiar story of Peter Pan, a lost boy who never wants to grow up, and turns it into a theatrical disaster. This comedy is a play within a play, following an amateur theater company putting on a production of “Peter Pan.” From major technical difficulties to the airing out of the actors’ personal dirty laundry onstage, this play is nothing if not entertaining.

Going in, I did not have high expectations for the level of comedy. I’m not one that is hard to make laugh, so I knew either way that I would get in a few good snickers. However, I was expecting very surface-level, predictable bits that would only cause a smile or a slight huff.

Don’t get me wrong: many jokes were expected, especially right off the bat, like the bunk bed collapsing and trapping the Darling siblings inside.

Physical and prop comedy were the most prominent and foreseeable bits in this show, which is to be expected. But to be honest, it had me worried that the quick slapstick comedy gags of set pieces breaking and forgetting lines were all that I was in for.

Yet, as the play progressed, the chaos and unpredictability set in and, much to my surprise, had me genuinely laughing.

One of my favorite bits was the role of Peter Pan being passed around like a baton after multiple injuries rendered the actors unable to play the character. This bit was pushed even further with a subplot of the actor who played Michael and the Crocodile (Ryan Wasson) wanting the role of Peter because he was in love with the actor who played Wendy (Sarah Plumb).

Unlike in traditional theater, audience participation was highly encouraged, with cast members egging on boos and shoutouts. Wasson became a fan favorite as the Crocodile, with the crowd exploding every time he came on stage as everyone was rooting for him and Wendy’s actor to get together.

There was also direct audience inclusion, like when Captain Hook (Craig Hirt) had an audience member step up to assist with a bottle that his hook prevented him from opening.

This audience participation added to the entire experience. There were multiple scenes where the house lights came up and illuminated the crowd, allowing the actors to peer directly into the audience. This brought you from an outside viewer into an active participant, which was an odd feeling.

The audience itself felt like a character, especially as more and more members built the confidence to include themselves and shout out to the actors. The sound of the crowd still remains in my head with their rambunctious cackles that at times felt like they might have been planted in the audience with how hard they were laughing.

As a self-proclaimed theater enthusiast and avid theatergoer, this repeated break of the fourth wall made this show stand out from other shows I have seen, as it directly invited you into the story.

The actors’ interactions with the audience are something that this particular cast did very well. While you could tell that the jokes were heavily scripted, there were touches of improvisation based on audience reactions that added to the entire comedy of the show.

As the show went on, my enjoyment and expectations grew. With each scene, I was less and less sure of what could possibly happen next. That agent of chaos is what made this play truly hilarious.

This play was such a good time. It had a gradual build-up from the first couple of scenes of a local play going wrong to the most left-field occurrences that you could not conceive would happen in that moment.

It exceeded my expectations with a layered comedy style that grew as the show progressed, and watching it was honestly a great way to spend a Friday night.

Read the full article here

Article by Mackenzie Estep of the Gonzaga Bulletin

Photo by Marlee Melinda Andrews