Last week students from across Carisbrooke College, Medina College and The Island VI Form came together and treated us to two amazing performances of RSC’s Wendy & Peter Pan. 

To ensure students had the opportunity to take on different roles, the cast were split into two groups. The crocodile cast took on the lead roles during Wednesday’s performance with tiger cast supporting, this was reversed for Thursday’s show when the tiger cast played lead roles, with crocodile cast supporting.

Wednesday night saw our amazing Crocodile Cast take the stage at Medina Theatre! The play opened with a touching scene in the home of the Darling family, with the children playing ‘battles’ in the Nursery before tragedy strikes the family. Evie gave a powerful performance as Wendy, shining as a strong-willed independent young woman keen to spread her wings whilst bearing her heavy sense of responsibility as big sister to her three younger brothers, John, Michael and Tom (played masterfully by Megan, Freddie and Zach). Isabella and Eleanor were exceptional as Mr and Mrs Darling, delivering a mature portrayal of a marriage in turmoil following the loss of a child. Ellie burst confidently into the story as a mischievous and somewhat clumsy Peter Pan, accompanied by Tink, a fairy big on attitude and played with sass-a-plenty by Akifa. We were then transported to Neverland where we meet the motley crew of Lost Boys: Flynn entertained the audience with his character of Tootles, a Lost Boy desperate to be brave, yet looked down on by the other Lost Boys (including the hilarious Lilly, Preslava and Chloe as Curly, Nibs and Slightly). Adventures ensue and the action is soon ramped up with the introduction of Captain Hook, played with fiendishly menacing charm by Bethany, and flanked by Alfie as Hook’s adoring, long-suffering Smee. Louis was uproarious as the cheerful yet useless pirate Martin, joined on stage with the other Pirates Murt, Jones and Doc Swain, played by Destiny, Kiera and River. Maisie also mastered an excellently gory death as pirate Skylights! The hero of the hour was Lucy’s Tiger Lily, the effortlessly cool and tough Picin Princess, uniting with Wendy and Tink to form a Girl Power trio determined to end Hook’s reign of terror.

Thursday night saw our incredible Tiger cast take the stage! Evie reprised her role as Wendy, this time joined by Lily, August and Brooke as her three brothers John, Michael and Tom, with Luca and Daisy starring as Mr. and Mrs. Darling. The magic of Neverland was brought alive when Peter and Tink crashed on to the stage, with a confident performance from Hadley (Peter) and ‘the role of a lifetime’ for Megan as the brash fairy: a favourite with the audience! Joley, Lily-Rose, Amelia and Ella delivered great performances as Lost Boys Tootles, Curly, Nibs and Slightly, putting up a good right against the nasty pirates Murt, Jones and Doc Swain (played by Lewis, Evie and Mia). Sam charmed the audience with his performance as the hopeless Pirate-turned-Lost Boy, Martin, and Annelise took on the role of the fated pirate Skylights, dying a bloody death before changing out of costume to join our musicians on stage as singer. Carys wreaked brilliant terror on stage as the villainous Captain Hook, stalked by another favourite with our audiences – the crocodile himself! Cormac gave a committed performance as the slimy crocodile, who – in a plot twist – was also the Doctor who came to visit the youngest Darling boy, Tom, at the start of the play. Izzy played Hook’s long-suffering sidekick Smee, and Eloise saved the day as Tiger Lily, uniting with Wendy and Tink to storm Hook’s ship ‘The Jolly Roger’ and free the Lost Boys and Darling children from impending peril.

Throughout both performances our fantastic chorus worked hard alongside our principal characters as Lost Boys and Pirates, and our skilled team of Shadows (led by Mrs. Shorrock) enabled our characters to FLY! Miss. Elkin worked tirelessly with our students to choreograph some impressive sword fight scenes and stage combat, and our fabulous student band (led by Mrs. Peckham) accompanied the story beautifully with their eclectic mix of folk and popular songs.

Our student stage crew oversaw a number of set changes and transitions, during the shows, with seamless professionalism, and lighting was expertly provided by the Medina Theatre technicians. A huge thank-you to Mr. Lyle for directing this impressive production and bringing Neverland to life!