Swashbuckling fun that relies on your imagination
by Rob Howard
Associate Editor
Peter and the Starcatcher is a “grown-up prequel to Peter Pan,” says Theatre Tulsa’s Managing Director Jarrod Copp. “It’s a fairy tale you can watch with your kids, but it’s directed at adults. All the references are more directed at the adult audience.”
The play upends the century-old story of how a miserable orphan comes to be The Boy Who Would Not Grow Up. From marauding pirates and jungle tyrants to unwilling comrades and unlikely heroes, Peter and the Starcatcher playfully explores the depths of greed and despair and the bonds of friendship, duty and love.
“What’s really interesting about the show,” says Copp, “it relies mainly on the imagination of the actors and the audience. Costume changes take place on stage. Actors will spin around and become another character right in front of you. The set is similar, it depends on your imagination to carry the show.
“Imagination is one of the main themes I’m trying to capture,” Copp related. He said the Broadway production of Starcatcher relied a lot on found objects. He has followed suite. As an example, he said, “Instead of sword fighting with swords, they use a cane and a plunger.
“Once you start from the idea that this is going to be about play and imagination, it takes you to completely different places as a director.”
The humor is based on the book by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. “But, when adapted to the stage, you have pirates from the 19th century talking in internet lingo,” said Copp.
To enhance the use of imagination, Copp cast the play in what he describes as “blind casting.” It is without regard to gender, age or race. “So you have someone older playing a child, for instance.”
Theatre Tulsa’s patrons will be carried away with the madcap fun. The production starts January 27 and continues through February 5, at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center’s (TPAC) Liddy Doenges Theatre. Tickets can be purchased online at the TPAC website, www.tulsapac.com, by phone at (918) 596-7111, or in person at the TPAC box office, 101 E. Third St., in downtown Tulsa.
Copyright 2017 The Gayly – January 18, 2017 @ 4:45 p.m.