8:00 PM, 10th May, 2005
No Guests
It all begins as successful Scottish playwright, J.M. Barrie (Depp), watches his latest play open to a ho-hum reaction. A literary genius of his times, Barrie is clearly in need of some serious inspiration. Unexpectedly, he finds it one day during a chance encounter with four boys and their beautiful recently widowed mother (Winslet). Despite the disapproval of the boys' grandmother and the resentment of his own wife, Barrie befriends the family; engaging the boys in tricks, disguises, games and mischief, creating play-worlds of castles and kings, cowboys and Indians, pirates and castaways. From Barrie's sense of adventure and childhood came his most daring and renowned masterwork, 'Peter Pan'. All that was then required was to convince his theatrical company and his audience of the magic of Neverland.
Finding Neverland is surprisingly moving and has excellent performances from Depp, and Freddie Highmore as Peter. For Depp, Finding Neverland is the latest in an extraordinary series of performances and Highmore's performance as Peter is just remarkable. So come along and see where your imagination can take you.
Tamara Lee