WE can only assume that this latter-day Jack Horner sat in his corner… and watched with increasing delight as this incredible piece of theatre literally took off.
Horner is the aerial consultant for Ella Hickson’s superlative interpretation of the J M Barrie classic and it is because of his area of considerable expertise that the company’s seasonal offering raises the roof in more ways than one.
For make no mistake, when it comes to special effects, lighting and ‘flying’ sequences, this fabulous show is obviously without equal and most certainly does the great man proud.
Barrie was the eternal child, and Hickson constantly demonstrates that she is completely in tune with this ethos right from the start, when the children are playing make-believe battles in their bedroom.
Witness the excitement and abandon shown by John (James Corrigan), Michael (Jordan Metcalfe) and Tom (Sam Clemmett) rehearsing for what will soon transpire in Neverland.
Are we not immediately transported to our own carefree days of childhood when heart ruled head and not the other way round? Of course we are.
Without any shadow of a doubt, there is much for children here. But this is really a story to be enjoyed by adults who are perhaps still in mourning for the loss of their own Neverland. 
A random quick glance around the auditorium to check the expressions on faces seems to confirm this. It’s the adults who get the message loud and clear.
Peter Pan is given suitably dashing treatment by Rhys Rusbatch, who is equally adept at bursts on the harmonica as he is at swordplay. But he meets his match with Wendy (Mariah Gale) who shows right from the start that anything he can do, she can probably do better.
This is cleverly echoed by the scenes of marital strife experienced by the parents, the veiled hints of early 20th century women’s suffrage, and the emancipation yet to come. These are simultaneously period and topical references, a particularly subtle introduction by the writer.
Meanwhile, Captain Hook (Darrell D’ Silva) is the least swashbuckling yo-ho-ho type of pirate I’ve ever seen on a poop deck. Incredibly, Hickson’s character appears almost vulnerable in certain situations, a man in touch with feelings that lie just below the grizzled surface of his forest of a beard.
Shiver me timbers, new man? Perhaps not. But despite the endless capers with cutlass, hooked hand and pistol, one gets the feeling that his lion’s roar is actually a bilge mouse’s squeak desperately trying to get out.
But what really takes the wind out of the captain’s sails is the constant attention paid to him by Smee (Paul Kemp), a man so smitten that he wants to one day set up kennel with his seadog boss. Absolutely hilarious.
And then there’s Tink (Charlotte Mills), who must surely be the good fairy from hell, the biggest and meanest of them all, a gigantic guided missile plastered in acres of pink taffeta.
Nevertheless, she must compete for laughs with Martin (Adam Gillen) who seems to find life with the other pirates too rough for his liking, and so eventually ends up being a Lost Boy again.
Daring exploits on the Spanish Main are obviously far too noisy and uncouth for this sensitive sailor boy, a far cry from the clubs, his ‘n’ hers scooters, and bars of Benidorm.
And bringing a touch of the utterly bizarre to the proceedings is Arthur Kyeyune’s crocodile, a distinctly unnerving vision of reptilian and prehensile slithering across the stage.
Exciting fight sequences, breathtaking aerial high jinks, a fully operational pirate ship, plus a floor that opens up like some Bermuda Triangle vortex combine to make this the show of a lifetime. And all this, against the backdrop of Olly Fox’s evocative music, makes for a night that has everything.
Director Jonathan Munby’s masterpiece runs until January 31, 2016.