04 January, 2014

Wendy and Peter Pan

On New Year's Eve, my family and I followed our time-honoured tradition of going out to the theatre.

This year we opted to go and see "Wendy and Peter Pan" at the RSC in Stratford. My husband and I used to go to the RSC regularly before the kids were born and we fancied a repeat visit, not least to see the newly-built theatre. We also fancied a change from the samey pantomimes that our home town has to offer.

The RSC didn't disappoint us. "Wendy and Peter Pan" was a truly fantastic experience. The acting was superb and the staging amazing. And the stage adaptation of J. M. Barrie's classic was given a really interesting feminist twist by writer Ella Hickson. Wendy and her mother were depicted as the ones taking responsibility for everyone and everything all the time, while Pan and 'the boys' constantly played and took no responsibility for anything whatsoever. The question of why the women never had time to have fun and relax with the boys arose throughout, and issues of women's suffrage and women in the workplace were touched upon.

The play comes highly recommended.

Of course, Stratford is not only about the theatre. The town itself is wonderful to wander round too. There are so many timber-framed buildings in such a small space and history abounds. We also managed to fit in lunch at a lovely independent cafe--No.37 Cafe on Sheep Street. The food was freshly made and delicious and the service personal and extremely friendly. A great find to augment our theatre trip!

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