Peter and the Starcatcher at Edmonds Driftwood Players

A wise man once said you can observe a lot just by watching. In my seat fifteen minutes before the show started, I looked at the set of Peter and the Starcatcher now playing at Driftwood in Edmonds. I observed the artistry and craft of it and thought it would be a good show.

I was right. From the set to the costumes to the choreography to the music to the performances, all the way along to the sustained, recognizably British accents, everything was impressive.

The show, based on the book Peter and the Starcatchers (plural) by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson and adapted by Rick Elice for the stage is the backstory to the Peter Pan story. We get to see how all the beloved characters (or in the case of Wendy, her mom) came to be.

Some of the best bits of theater artistry involved the character, Molly. As a starcatcher-in-training, Molly can fly. At a crucial moment, she used her flying skill to save Peter. They accomplished this by having two actors lift the character while being screened by a lineup of other actors forming a wall with their backs to the audience. Behind them, Molly and Peter appear to float off to safety. It was charming as can be.

They used a version of this in another scene. Molly, confined to a ship, begins exploring below-decks. Five or six actors again line up. Molly takes one of the actors by the shoulder and appears to turn them as if they are a door. Then as she goes “inside” the actors rush into place and begin performing the scene that takes place in there. This happens a couple of times. Once it’s a crap game. Next time it’s a religious service. There is nothing like this kind of theater magic when it is done as well as it is here.

The musical numbers, especially the mermaids’ song at the beginning of Act Two are comic delights with witty lyrics and perfectly matched dance moves. It’s a pity there aren’t more of them. I’d love to see a re-worked version of Peter and the Starcatcher with some of the scenes replaced or maybe enhanced through song or dance like the brief ukulele number in Act Two.

I realize I am now critiquing a play other than the one I did see, which is weird. But it’s because I came away thinking the theater artists I saw exceeded the material they were given. I’d like to see what could be done with a script that is as sharp and well-put-together as they are.

Picture by me of the set, pre-show.

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