Eatdrink #82 March/April 2020

54 | March/April 2020
eatdrink.ca |@eatdrinkmag
Theatre
A Captain Hook for Our Time
Laura Condlln in Wendy & Peter Pan at the Avon Theatre
By JANE ANTONIAK
Batten down the hatches theatregoers;
it is time for a gender switch
in a classic tale. Meet the 2020
version of Captain Hook: Laura
Condlln. She’s ready to rock the boat with a
female swagger at the Stratford Festival this
season. “The world needs more female pirate
stories,” says Condlln. “It’s important to have
this complex, powerful man portrayed as a
woman by a woman,” she adds.
Wendy & Peter Pan is a new adaptation, by
Ella Hickson, of the J.M. Barrie book, Peter
Pan. It opens on May 27 at the Avon Theatre
with previews beginning on April 24.
In this adaptation Hickson puts an
emphasis on the women in Peter Pan:
Wendy, Tink and Tiger Lily. “It’s a female
kaleidoscope,” says Condlln. She will play
the Captain as a woman, with the pronouns
changed and any references to Hook as a
male removed. “The essence of the Captain
is female,” says Condlln. “However I am not
called she or her. I am only called Captain.”
Her costume includes “killer boots” with heels,
and she wears pants. “It is sexy, masculine and
Laura Condlln. Creative direction by Punch & Judy Inc.
Photography by David Cooper..
feminine at the same time. I am not saying I
am androgynous, but it is interesting. We are
not in gender fluidity but there is a strong
person there that is being played as a woman.”
Directed by Keira Loughran, the story has
other female plot lines such as Wendy and
Mrs. Darling fighting for women’s rights, and
the Lost Boys looking for a mother, whom
they find in Wendy. “Playwright Ella Hickson
adapted Barrie’s story with a subversive
spirit; she believed Neverland belonged to
Wendy as much as it did to Peter, and she
actively cracked stereotypes that have been
propagated through previous adaptations in
ways that were both hilarious and surprisingly
moving. I wanted to maintain that spirit
in our production and Laura embodied it
perfectly in her Hook. It won her the role; the
trio of Laura as Hook, Cynthia Jimenez Hicks
as Wendy, and Jake Runeckles as Peter, really
anchor the 2020 Canadian première of this
classic story,” says Loughran.
Condlln lives full-time in Stratford and she
tapped a fellow Stratford actor, Jan Alexandra
Smith (who portrayed Scrooge as a woman
at the Grand Theatre,
London in 2018) for some
gender-switching advice.
“I saw Jan as Scrooge and
I have thought about that
role a lot. Scrooge was a
woman but she was very
masculine. This challenge
is totally thrilling and
terrifying in equal measure
for me,” says Condlln.
Her Captain Hook will
“push me way outside
of my comfort zone,”
says Condlln. “What
are we as artists if we
are not treading into
the unknown? And I
am so grateful for the