Review: ‘Peter Pan Goes Wrong’ is spectacularly clumsy. That’s meant as a compliment

Mischief, the popular British theater company that specializes in farcical fiasco, is back at the Ahmanson Theatre with “Peter Pan Goes Wrong,” an even more spectacularly clumsy presentation than “The Play Goes Wrong,” the troupe’s earlier hit that came to Los Angeles in 2019.

This is meant as a compliment. The premise of these offerings is that we’re watching a production by an amateur drama society that is badly under-resourced and calamitously under-rehearsed. The play isn’t the thing but simply the pretext for disaster.

“The Murder at Haversham Manor,” the murder mystery that occasions “The Play That Goes Wrong,” establishes the whodunit flavor of the pratfalls and mishaps. But the plot ultimately gets lost in the mayhem. J.M. Barrie’s “Peter Pan” provides the outline for a whole slew of costume catastrophes and aerial disasters that constitute the main act of “Peter Pan Goes Wrong.”

The show, written by cast members Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields, has arrived in Los Angeles direct from Broadway. But this isn’t what anyone would call a prestige hit. This undemanding frolic only wants to restore your sense of childlike play.

Theatergoers never seem to tire of watching performers make fools of themselves. Nothing is funnier than theatrical failure, or so the roaring hilarity at the Ahmanson would have you believe. A psychologist might connect the fear of public speaking with the delight in watching others humiliate themselves onstage. It’s astonishing how easily our worst fears are transformed into our heartiest laughs.

This genre of comedy has a long and distinguished pedigree. Shakespeare’s rude mechanicals, the group of rustic laborers who pool their meager theatrical talents to present a play in honor of the royal nuptials, is for many the comic highlight of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

I’m as susceptible to silliness as anyone, but Shakespeare wisely puts limits on the amount of theatrical bungling. Mischief serves huge entrees of this sort of comedy, and I find myself sated after the first few dishes of a multicourse meal.

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The nursery scene at the Darling residence, where Peter Pan flies into the children’s bedroom window, luring Wendy, Michael and John to Neverland, offers a wide selection of the mishaps to come. Magic is no guarantee of safety here.

Nana the dog is played by an actor (Lewis) too big to pass through the dog flap. This same performer also plays Peter Pan’s shadow, unlocking a whole new set of size jokes. (Beware of the bunk beds.)

The newbie playing John Darling (Sayer) has to have his lines fed through a headset that keeps picking up random radio stations and backstage communication that he innocently parrots. And spare a thought for the poor performer (Nancy Zamit) forced to attempt logistically impossible costume changes as she switches between the Darlings’ maid and Mrs. Darling.

The actors playing Wendy (Charlie Russell) and Peter (Greg Tannahill) have the hots for each other, stoking jealousies in the company and also turning a supposed family show into an inappropriately steamy affair. Chris (Shields), the president of the drama society and the director of this shambles, plays both Mr. Darling and Captain Hook, turning the father into a smug tyrant and the pirate into a hammy stage villain who enjoys castigating the audience for its lack of appreciation of all the hard work that’s gone into the performance.

Props are missing, requiring inadequate substitutes to be improvised, and simple stage actions, like tying a tie, turn unexpectedly dangerous. But it’s the flying that threatens to summon an ambulance to the Music Center. The ropes hoisting Peter Pan are lashed across the upper part of the set with utter disregard for the poor actor’s head. (Amateur theatricals of this sort really should be a helmet sport.)

Directed by Adam Meggido, “Peter Pan Goes Wrong” is choreographed meticulously, and no doubt every precaution has been put in place to protect the actors. How the performers fling themselves about without injuring themselves like their characters became for me the chief interest of the production as it stretched on.

Even the narrator, played by a guest actor, has to nimbly avoid being a casualty as his moving chair grows more uncooperative with each segment. Bradley Whitford, who’s in the role through Aug. 27 (Daniel Dae Kim takes over on Aug. 30) gamely throws himself into the part like a running back. A running back, it should be said, who happens to be a three-time Emmy Award winner. At one point, Whitford walks onstage with his trophies to remind everyone that he’s not just a clown for hire.

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Simon Scullion’s vividly flimsy scenic design is engineered to quake and crumble. The dizzying finale involves a turntable of sets that starts spinning out of control. The Neverland forest, the pirate ship and the nursery blur into one nonsensical locale.

My interest in the malfunctioning proceedings flagged, but my admiration of the performers stayed strong. Especially commendable is Zamit, who in addition to Mrs. Darling and the housekeeper, plays a Tinkerbell too zaftig to fly, among other roles. (The gags around girth are outmoded but part of the show’s British pantomime roots.)

Shields has a field day playing Hook, egging on the traditional booing of the character with snide remarks to the audience. While spending a near-eternity trying to open a bottle with his hook, he trades sharp words with spectators. The audience is treated to some razzing even before the show begins, with performers traipsing through the auditorium, talking smack, to the general delight of everyone.

It’s August, and our brains are sluggish if not completely shut off. “Peter Pan Goes Wrong” wouldn’t be my choice for a theatrical beach-read, but the ensemble members of Mischief are maestros of their misbegotten trade.