Nostalgia is not quite enough to hold the weight of Club NVRLND, a new take on Peter Pan. This drag-theatre show aims high but falls flat as Peter turns 30.
As you enter the Assembly Checkpoint, the music of the late 2000s is playing, not quite loud enough to make you dance, but not quiet enough to talk over. The lights go down and the lost crew arrive, vogueing, duck walking and death dropping all over the stage. It’s a great spectacle, and the party is off to a terrific start. Then Wendy arrives in a wedding dress, she’s left someone at the altar, and can’t quite shake the memory of Peter. She joins the cult of Club Nvrland and the revelry reaches new heights. From here, we go into a structureless jumble of a plot that vaguely surrounds the crocodile from Peter Pan now being some kind of criminal operator and Hook slightly losing his brilliance.
Riding high from the phenomenon that was KENREX, a breathtaking show, Jack Holden has turned his WhatsOnStage-nominated pen to the immersive stage. The result shocked me; it was overly indulgent, vapid and sought to cover up its lack of depth with excessive spectacle. Immersive clubs, drag and nostalgia are excellent premises for a fringe show, but the characters have no depth, no development and the plot is either totally neglected or crushed into sporadic fifteen-minute sequences.
Review by Tom Carter
Welcome to NVRLND, where the party goes straight on till morning, featuring the biggest 2000s anthems: Britney Spears, Katy Perry, Justin Timberlake, and more! Wendy’s about to get married, but one night in NVRLND changes everything. Reuniting with Peter Pan, she’s thrown back into a world of intoxicating fun and reckless adventure. But can youth really last forever? Or does growing up offer its own magic? With book by Olivier Award nominee Jack Holden (Cruise, KENREX), Club NVRLND is an irreverent, high-energy, nostalgia-fuelled immersive party where happy thoughts abound, drinks flow, and the night is always young.
CAST
Thomas Grant – Peter Pan
Martha Kirby – Wendy Darling
Le Fil – Tiger Lily
Lizzie Wofford – Tink
Matthew Gent – Hook
Jad Habchi – The Crocodile
Becky Bassett – Nana
Joel Ekperigin – Smee
CREATIVE TEAM
Book – Jack Holden
Conceiver & Director – Steven Kunis
Choreographer – Ashley Nottingham
Set & Costume Designer – Suzu Sakai
Lighting Designer – Robbie Butler
Sound Designer – Dan Samson
Casting Director – Lucy Casson CDG
Creative Producer – Aida Rocci
Music Supervisor – Colm O’Regan
Music Production & Arrangements – Hugo Dunn-Vereker, Liam James, Gregor Philip, Kieran Smith
Vocal Arrangements – Simon Nathan
Costume Supervisor – Caroline Stevens
Production Manager – James Anderton
Stage Manager – Chloe Wilson
CLUB NVRLND
Assembly Checkpoint at the Edinburgh Fringe
30 July to 24 August 2025
