Sleeping Trees are known for their Christmas fairytale mashups, loose-fitting family shows that splice Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and the like. This year, they’re doing something similar for adult audiences. Peter Pan’s Labyrinth is what happens when JM Barrie meets the David Bowie fantasy movie, with a dash of Guillermo del Toro thrown in. The splicing doesn’t end there, with Sleeping Trees’ usual trio of creator-performers being joined by drag queen Dan Wye, and one half of the Pajama Men, Shenoah Allen, directing.
Which might imply something different from the company’s usual fare. But really, this is more of the cheerfully slapdash same, with added rude words. It aspires to be nothing more, and nothing less, than a comic runaround, all crap props, cut corners and backchat, poking affectionate fun at the source material. The story, in which you’re expected to make no emotional investment whatsoever, concerns James Dunnell-Smith’s middle-aged Peter Pan, desperate to get back to Neverland to prevent Tinkerbell’s wedding to Captain Hook. To achieve this, he must first navigate the labyrinth of our master of ceremonies, the Goblin King – basically, Bowie in shock wig and glam stylings.
