‘Peter’ at the Shaw Theatre

Peter is a bold play with moments of potential and humour. 17-year-old Daniel Lawson is having a difficult time growing up. His mother, a highly-strung, disillusioned teacher who spends her days ‘defending Shakespeare’ to her scornful pupils, constantly nags Daniel and bickers with his father, who enjoys playing a computer game called Democratisation.

Daniel feels constantly in the shadow of his elder brother, Peter, and escapes from his family by revising for Ancient Greek vocabulary tests, going on chatrooms to flirt with girls and exploring his burgeoning sexuality with his Jewish friend Saul.

However, this is no ordinary sibling rivalry, as Saul learns over an awkward dinner with the Lawsons. Peter is thought to have performed miracles while still a boy, which Daniel is sceptical about, and now leads an unconventional Christian community in America. When their mother is diagnosed with cancer, the prodigal Peter returns, summoned by his loving parents who desperately hope he will be able to cure Mrs Lawson, just as he cured the family cat when he was a child.

Sam Hafez, who plays Saul, is a very convincing awkward Jewish teenager, lightly teased by his best friend, polite to Mr and Mrs Lawson and terrified of being told off by his mother. Neill McReynolds, who plays Daniel, was for the most part believable, but his truncated, robotic way of speaking took some getting used to. At the beginning, Mrs. Lawson remarks that her son ‘hasn’t got long left’, implying he has a terminal illness but this is not explained or developed.

The problem with Peter is that it tries to address too much in too short a period of time, which means that nothing is developed enough and the audience are left confused. In addition to the already meaty themes of religion, cancer, friendship, love, sibling rivalry and wider family dynamics, the play tries to apply an overarching Iraq war context. Mr Lawson is constantly trying to listen to the radio to hear whether Britain will go to war with Iraq and there is an all too brief discussion of free market economics and whether anyone can really know what they want, that feels like it is thrown in.

Homosexuality is touched on too, for good measure. Five nurses are on stage in most scenes but, apart from in the scene where they stand by Mrs Lawson’s bed, they are redundant and distracting. If they are meant to act as a Greek chorus, and combine with references to Ancient Greek vocabulary, implying this is a Greek tragedy, it fails. Perhaps the play makes sense to the directors but they do not communicate their ideas effectively. I feel I am missing a slightly convoluted and unclear analogy about family life, religion and war. In contrast to the script, the set design is unambitious and the scene changes take too long.

If this play had the confidence to stick to just a few themes, it could have been sharp and thought-provoking. I am curious to see what playwright George Hull comes up with next and it’s worth a trip to the Shaw Theatre to judge the play for yourself.

Peter is an Anatrope production and part of the Camden Fringe. It is on until August 19 at:

The Shaw Theatre
100-110 Euston Road
King’s Cross
NW1 2AJ

Tel: 0844 248 5075
www.camdenfringe.com