REVIEW: Peter Pan Goes Wrong – at the Festival Theatre, Malvern, from Monday, January 19 to Saturday, January 24, 2015.

BRILLIANT but brutally bonkers throughout two-hours of unforgettable knockabout comedy.

There’s absolutely no need to pop along to the GP’s surgery for any pills or medicine if you’re feeling a bit down, just get the doc to provide a prescription to see this show and spirits are guaranteed to be lifted and those post-Christmas blues banished.

The show’s brutal in terms of what the cast of 10 put themselves through. It’s high-powered energy and non-stop action for two hours as they tumble off a revolving stage they can’t stop, bang heads into doors, cupboards and tables, cope with collapsing beds and complete chaos in the flying scenes which leads to two Peter’s being left with ‘head wounds’.

This is one of the early dates in their UK tour and with so much effort and energy expended it has to be hoped they all make it safely through to Nottingham in July!

The ‘amateurs’ from the Cornley Youth Theatre Group are intent on doing their best. The show must go on no matter what and a lot of whats come into play. There’s a daft disaster every few seconds, a chortling catastrophe every minute and with so much laughter it appeared the audience were grateful when the interval arrived just to give their aching faces and bodies a rest.

Friends and fellow reviewers were raving about last year’s initial offering from the Mischief Theatre – The Play That Goes Wrong, which was unfortunately missed by yours truly through being away on holiday. That play is still doing a roaring trade in the West End in terms of laughter and customers, so there was no way this latest ‘catastrophe’ was going to be missed. It looks like another winner all the way.

Peter Pan is a hugely popular story which has transferred superbly from the printed word onto the big screen and stage, and it has also been a pantomime hit. But Cornley’s ‘director’ is eager to point out this is not a panto, but he didn’t know what was behind him or what was about to confront him. Sheer madcap mayhem!

The comic timing is superb and director Adam Meggido and his creative and production team have certainly got the cast on board in this quite unique and quirky production. That cast - Laurence Pears, Cornelius Booth, Matt Cavendish, Leonie Hill, James Marlowe, Chris Leask, Harry Kershaw, Naomi Sheldon, Alex Bartram and Rosie Abraham, were all deserving of their huge ovation at the end.

This is a wonderfully crafted show and should you be wondering how a play can earn this accolade when everything that can wrong, goes wrong, it’s simple. It’s that old proof of the pudding thing..... so head along yourself as soon as possible and you’ll see why.

How many stars out of five? Well, six of course!