Peter And Alice 20th April 2013

For ten years Michael Grandage oversaw excellent productions as Artistic Director at the Donmar Warehouse. He is now involved in 5 shows at the Noel Coward theatre, featuring the cream of British theatrical talent. Having seen the two previous West End productions of “Privates On Parade” I was more keen to see the only new play of the season “Peter And Alice” by John Logan.

Following on from the success of “Red” based upon Mark Rothko he has now turned his attention on the meeting of Alice Liddell Hargreaves and Peter Llewellyn Davies. These are the two real people that two of children’s literature favourite characters are based upon, “Alice in Wonderland” and “Peter Pan”.

This extraordinary premise is turned into a scintillating drama where the protagonists reveal the pleasures and pain of unexpectedly and unwillingly being chosen for immortality. The casting of Judi Dench and Ben Wishaw is truly inspiring. They both effortlessly recapture their youthful selves which led to their appearances in print as well as showing how each dealt differently with their unsought notoriety. The scene where Alice reaches her hand to claim the lost Peter is truly heart-breaking.

This is theatre at its best. Sensibly running at ninety minutes without a break it ensures the momentum built up is not deflated by the imposition of an interval. Oddly enough both performances and writer were involved in the most recent James Bond film “Skyfall”, but here we are in completely different territory.

The writers involved Lewis Carroll and James Barrie are both well played by Nicholas Farrell and Derek Riddell with Ruby Bentall and Olly Alexander impressively creating the bewildered “Alice In Wonderland” and “ Peter Pan”. But the evening belongs to the lead actors.Remaining on stage throughout Miss Dench belies her age with as good a performance I can recall seeing from her (and I have seen countless over the years). In contrast Ben Wishaw re-states his claim to be amongst the best actors of his generation with a welcome return to the stage.

There is a reason why House Full signs are showing outside the Noel Coward theatre. Grab a ticket while you still can.