Christopher Gray enjoys an hilariously inept Peter Pan performance

A cynical reviewer charged with appraising a play called Peter Pan Goes Wrong might easily succumb to the temptation of asking precisely when, if ever, this most famous of J.M. Barrie’s many stage successes ever went right.

It’s about suspension of disbelief – and suspension is at the heart of the matter here. I refer to those so-easy-to-spot wires. Who could believe that Peter Pan was flying with the means of hauling him aloft so open to public view?

As may be guessed, great fun is to be had with aerial antics in the version of the play delivered by Mischief Theatre in the guise of the hopelessly cack-handed Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society, headed by director Chris Bean (Laurence Pears) who gives a suitably swaggering Captain Hook.

Oxford Playhouse regulars will remember Mischief’s visit early last year with The Play That Goes Wrong, which won them an Olivier Award and is still delighting audiences in the West End.

A disastrous mishap in the air involving Peter (Alex Bartram) brings the first half to an hilarious conclusion.

Earlier, the flight of the Darling children to Neverland fails to get off the ground when their wires serve only to remove their clothes.

Among the “children”, incidentally, is a lavishly bearded gentleman looking uncannily like the Victorian novelist Wilkie Collins.

He is the show’s assistant director Robert Grove (Cornelius Booth) stepping into the breach to replace the youngster who was playing Michael. (You’ll find out what happened to him in the very amusing spoof programme.) Of Michael’s siblings, Leonie Hill’s strutting, thigh-slapping Wendy, who could over-act for Britain, is a constant hoot.

Muffed cues, forgotten lines, speeches given in response to lines yet to be delivered – these form one aspect of the evening’s fun. Naomi Sheldon, in a bewildering variety of roles, including Tinker Bell, works hard at this.

More important, though, is the brilliantly timed slapstick delivered under director Adam Meggido and the obstinate misbehaviour of the revolving set (designer Simon Scullion).