By AJ Jaffari
What happens when a theatre company attempts its most ambitious production yet—and practically everything that can go wrong does?
Peter Pan Goes Wrong at San Francisco Playhouse takes the familiar world of Neverland and throws it headfirst into theatrical catastrophe. From the creators of The Play That Goes Wrong, Henry Lewis, Henry Shields, and Jonathan Sayer, the comedy reunites audiences with the wonderfully ill-fated Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society, this time attempting to stage Peter Pan complete with flying, sword fights, elaborate scenery, and enough technical elements to make any stage manager nervous.
I didn’t know much about this particular installment going in, but the title is fairly self-explanatory. What I wasn’t prepared for was just how elaborate the chaos would become. There is something wonderfully entertaining about watching a production seemingly collapse before your eyes while knowing that, behind all of that disaster, an enormous amount of precision is required to make everything go wrong exactly right.
I thoroughly enjoyed the show. Farce like this works best when everyone commits wholeheartedly to the ridiculousness, and this company certainly does. If I had one gripe, I occasionally wished the pacing were a little sharper. There were moments where pauses for laughter felt slightly prolonged, and with this much humor already embedded into the writing, I don’t think every joke needs additional room to breathe. Keeping the momentum moving at full speed would have made some of the escalating chaos land even harder for me.
Still, when the show gets rolling—and things really begin falling apart—it is incredibly entertaining.
The success of a piece like this depends on its entire company, and this cast deserves recognition across the board. Greg Ayers as Dennis, Joe Ayers as Max, Maggie Mason as Sandra, Christian McCooey as Gill, Ezra Reaves as Jonathan, Renee Rogoff as Annie, Patrick Russell as Robert, Sophie Schulman as Lucy, Terrance Austin Smith as Trevor, Jomar Tagatac as Chris, and Phaedra Tillery-Boughton as Francis each bring their own distinct personality to the madness.
What impressed me was how individualized everyone felt despite operating within the same heightened comedic world. Physical comedy, escalating frustrations, interpersonal rivalries, and the increasingly desperate attempts to simply finish the play give each performer something different to work with. The company understands that the joke cannot merely be “something broke.” The humor comes from watching these characters respond to disaster while desperately pretending there isn’t one.
But perhaps the biggest stars of Peter Pan Goes Wrong are the people responsible for making everything fail so spectacularly.
Cody Tellis Rutledge’s scenic design is immensely impressive. I don’t want to spoil any of the production’s biggest surprises, because much of the fun comes from wondering what could possibly malfunction next, but watching this set seemingly betray the performers over and over again is quite the theatrical achievement. The amount of engineering, rehearsal, and precision required to create chaos this controlled must be enormous.
Christian Mejia’s lighting and Kathleen Qiu’s costumes add wonderfully to the heightened world, while Amy Benjamin’s properties design has the particularly daunting task of supplying a production where practically everything seems capable of becoming part of the joke.
And honestly, a massive round of applause needs to go to the technical and backstage teams. Between the scenery, props, flying, quick changes, physical comedy, and countless cues required to keep this machine moving, they certainly have their work cut out for them. The production credits Bridgette Loriaux as flight consultant, Dani O’Dea as fight director, Alicia Lerner as stage manager, Kaya Lehr-Love as assistant stage manager, alongside an extensive deck and fly crew. For a show like this, their precision is every bit as important as what we see from the actors onstage.
Director Susi Damilano ultimately has the unenviable task of making all of this chaos look effortless. There is an extraordinary amount happening at virtually any given moment, and coordinating performers, scenery, physical comedy, and technical effects into one cohesive disaster is no small feat.
Peter Pan Goes Wrong is the kind of production that reminds you just how difficult it can be to make something look this hilariously bad. Beneath every malfunction is an actor hitting a mark, a technician waiting for a cue, and an entire company working together with remarkable precision.
I had a thoroughly entertaining evening. It’s silly, technically ambitious, impressively executed, and filled with the kind of theatrical mayhem that really has to be experienced live. San Francisco Playhouse has taken on quite the undertaking with this one—and it is definitely worth seeing everything go spectacularly wrong.
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