Peter and the Starcatcher is a clever, hilarious, and sweet play that focuses on friendship, duty and love. It follows an abused orphan boy and an intelligent, isolated young woman as they embark on their first big adventure, full of molluscs, mermaids and pirates! Leaning on a wide variety of performance forms (Brechtian, puppetry, etc.) and blending technologies old and new, Peter and the Starcatcher extends the imaginative limits of the stories that are told in a theatrical space.
Based on the 2004 novel Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, Peter and the Starcatcher was adapted for the stage by renowned writer Rick Elice. Providing a backstory for the characters of Peter Pan, the story serves as a prequel to J.M. Barrie’s Peter and Wendy. After a premiere in California at the La Jolla Playhouse, Peter and the Starcatcher transferred to off-Broadway in 2011 and opened on Broadway on 15 April 2012, where it won five Tony Awards.
This production has been re-imagined for Australian audiences and is produced by Dead Puppet Society, with direction by its co-Founder David Morton. It opened at the Canberra Theatre Centre in October last year before heading to Melbourne. The 2025 leg of the tour has included a season in Adelaide and concludes with a season next month in Brisbane.
Movement Director Liesel Zink masterfully made Peter and the Starcatcher a theatrical playground of wit and whimsy, offering a canvas rich with colour and boundless imagination. She swept the audience away into spaces of awe and wonder with her balance between the boundless play and a more refined structure.
Zink’s precise choreography, alongside instances of gleeful controlled chaos, brought the world and characters to life, punctuating the humour, enhancing the storytelling, and occasionally stealing the spotlight. There were even moments where I wanted to join in on the fun!
Musical Director James Dobinson has expanded the musical language of the original production, adding more colour. In addition to a piano and some percussion, a violin, guitar and bass were thrown into the mix.
But the biggest choice Dobinson made that paid dividends was making the music visible: he put the band on stage. This added kinetic and frenetic energy to what was already a lively production, reimagining and breathing new life into the beloved classic.
Costume Designer Anna Cordingley rooted her work in the text’s atmosphere, temperament, and her own daydreaming. Of the utmost importance was each costume’s durability and flexibility, allowing performers the capacity to swiftly transform from one character to another.
The most memorable costume without a doubt was the sparkling mermaid outfits and silver glitter boots that every performer donned at the start of Act Two. They certainly ‘made a mermaid out of me’!
The ensemble cast brought their all to the production, with a notable standout performance by Paul Capsis who played a gleeful, mysterious, mischievous captain Bill Slank. Lucy Goleby was a wonderful Betty Bumbrake, guardian to Molly, until she was whisked away on her own romantic adventure. Colin Lane was delightfully hilarious as Blake Stache. He absolutely brought the house down!
At the heart of Peter and the Starcatcher was imagination in its collective sense. It was a story about a group of people dedicating themselves with heart and soul to conjure vistas of stars and horizonless oceans. I resonated deeply with what writer Rick Elice said in the program:
“My favourite moment in the play is the point where the efforts of all the characters coalesce – overlapping simply and spectacularly. The boy jumps from a great height and is caught by the rest of the company. It’s the only time in any production in which the character of Peter Pan appears, that he is actually and truly a human body in flight. No wires. No tricks. Only the company, as one, catching him safely. It demonstrates right before our eyes, the theme of the play: to have faith is to have wings.“
It truly made me believe a boy could fly!
Peter and the Starcatcher was a genuine thrill that audiences young and old will enjoy and remember long after they leave the theatre.
Peter and the Starcatcher is on now for a strictly limited season until 9 February at the Capitol Theatre, Sydney.
The Brisbane season runs from 14 March.
Tickets: https://www.ticketmaster.com.au/peter-and-the-starcatcher-tickets/artist/1690339
Website: https://peterandthestarcatcher.com.au/
Socials: https://www.instagram.com/peterandthestarcatchertour/
Socials: https://www.instagram.com/deadpuppetsociety/
Photo credits: Daniel Boud
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