THERE aren't too many actors who will cheerfully reveal their latest theatre production is going delightfully wrong.

 

 

But thankfully, that's exactly what's supposed to happen.

Laurence Pears is starring this week at the Theatre Royal in Peter Pan Goes Wrong.

Set in the world of am-dram, we discover The Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society attempting to stage J.M. Barrie's classic.

But the production is packed with accident-prone hopefuls, and the adventure to Neverland results in lots of never-quite-making-it-off-the-ground moments.

"The show is full of Laurel and Hardy-esque slapstick," says Laurence who has appeared in a range of Shakespearean productions.

"But the challenge is to keep it all believable. If you try to make it too silly from the outset, the audience won't buy into it when it all falls apart."

The company behind the play are Mischief Theatre, the creators of the hugely successful The Play That Goes Wrong, which this week picked up a Novello theatre award.

"The writers came to rehearsals for Peter Pan and had us perform and rehearse Peter Pan without anything going wrong at all, just to get the feel for it," says Laurence.

"We also went to the pub in character, just as the Poyltechnic people would. It created a real dynamic."

Laurence plays the Director in the production and Captain Hook. Did he continue to boss people around off-stage?

"My character Chris is full of hopes and dreams so he's not too bossy. At the beginning of the play he's a little snappy, but then we go on the journey with him and he loses it a little."

He adds, grinning; "But I do speak to people in character when I want something."

The show involves the cast speaking to the audience before the show.

"That works, most of the time," he says, laughing. "I tend to try and pick out the reviewers, anyone who can affect the outcome of the show and offer them free wine."

Trying to create a play in which everything goes wrong is so much more difficult than producing a show in which nothing goes wrong.

"It's a helluva lot more difficult," says Laurence. "It's like the Tommy Cooper performance. You have to be a very good magician to be able to convince as a bad one.

"This show has to be so slick, and on the button because there is lots of Buster Keaton slapstick and if we don't get it right, people could get hurt. It's all about split-second timing."

Why begs the question; why do we laugh when things go wrong, when, for example, Peter Pan, instead of flying though the window to Neverland, misses and hits the bedroom wall, ending up concussed with a head wound?

"We do love it," says Laurence, smiling. "But we only love it because it's not real."

Laurence grew up in Cornwall. His older brother, Richard, is also listed as an actor.

"I had kicked off my career with a great part in BBC2's Wild West featuring Dawn French and Catherine Tate, and the next thing I knew he landed a role in Ladies In Lavender with Judy Dench and Maggie Smith. Which I didn't get.

"But then he said 'That was fun, but I don't want to do acting anymore.

"I said 'Why not?' And he said 'Well, it's not going to get any better than that.' And I thought that was a very healthy approach to take.

"Meantime, since then I've been clawing my way to the top."

Did Richard ever get offered parts Laurence had hoped for?

"Yes. Then he said to me afterwards, 'It's a shame you can't have my cv."

Laurence Pears seems to have exactly the right attitude to survive the slings and arrows of acting fortune.

He laughs easily, and knows how to create laughs. Laurence reveals he knew he wanted to become an actor when aged 14 he appeared as Snout in a school production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

"I went on stage and forgot my lines and everybody thought it was hilarious.

"And I loved the laughter. So the next time I went on I played it as if I had forgotten my lines again. I did this every night.

"My drama teacher was, thankfully, supportive. She said; 'If it gets a laugh, why not?'"

And now Laurence is once again appearing in a play pretending to get it wrong.

"Yes, it's a reoccurring theme in my life," he says, grinning.

Peter Pan Goes Wrong, The Theatre Royal, until Saturday.