EDGE Philadelphia

For his second outing as director at the Arden Theatre, David O’Connor leaves the rough seas of The Seafarer, which he directed last spring, for the magic of J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, adapted by Douglas Irvine, the first of the Arden’s 09-10 children’s theater series.

As magical as the sets and costumes are for this updated 90-minute version of the story, he says kids are equally fascinated to the dark side of Neverland.

"Peter Pan is full of dark themes dealing with the inevitability of death and the loss of childhood," O’Connor said, standing in front of the production’s fantatiscally gritty set by Tom Gleeson. "It’s told in a way that makes great children theater, but a rich story for grown ups.

"I really knew we had something different when the designs came in and I realized what this set was going to look like," O’Connor added. "It’s not only beautiful, it’s a big jungle gym."

O’Connor is not flying Peter Pan in and out on cables, the staple image of theatrical versions, but said "everyone is very physical and acrobatic in the show." Chris Presky, who was in the cast of the Arden’s stellar production of the History Boys this fall, is cast as the boy who won’t grow up.

"Chris came in to audition and just nailed it. He’s a surfer, very laid back and super physical," said the director. "He makes Peter a superhero, actually. He flies on his own. One minute he’s over the audience, the next on the deck."
O’Connor is referring here to the set, which is part breakaway ship deck with outsize wheels and mechanicals that look like outsized clockworks. There is even a disemboweled piano strewn about on the bow.

O’Connor said that this version of Barrie’s classic pushes the envelope with different artistic angles. "The play is taken most directly from the novel. So there are angles that are cut out and loose ends that we streamline. We have to condense a lot. We’ve been tweaking it with preview audiences, and the kids have been saying it’s awesome."

That enthusiasm is due is in no small part to a villainous Frank X (who starred in the History Boys) in the role of Captain Hook. "No fourth wall in his world, he talks right to them," says O’Connell. "He gets to have this great, adversarial relationship with the kids in the audiences. When he talks about mutiny, the audience gets pretty mutinous itself.

"It’s Americanized and modernized and updated for today," O’Connell continued of the story, which was written in England at the start of the 20th century. "The Lost Boys are made out of found stuff. [It’s about c]oming to grips with the world being neglected, [which is] important right now. What I liked about Lost Boys, as found objects that the kids would go home and find objects that they can make into character.

"We want to encourage that kind of theatrical and magical thinking," O’Connor added, with a twinkle in his eye.

Peter Pan continues through Jan 3 at the Arden Theatre. For additional information, please visit the theater’s Web site.