Peter Pan

A lovely friendly welcome from Dereham Theatre Company was given to me at the Dereham Memorial hall to see the pantomime Peter Pan.

The front of house staff were excellent showing us to a buzzing auditorium, eagerly awaiting the excitement to begin.

Peter Pan(Teejay Standing) captured “the boy who never grew up” image superbly and Wendy(Rebecca Ludman) had a perfect RP accent and her characterisation was spot on. Captain Hook(Gary Davison) was very evil and managed his nastiness throughout. Smee(Ryan Standing) played a brilliant, camp, witty, always in character role, having a fantastic rapport with the audience. Dame Mabel Mcvitie(Nick Bird) a typical, over the top, funny excellent personification of a Dame and Tinkerbell(Maddison Mower), a powerful singer with the right level of sarcasm and a skilled actress. The lost boys were not ‘lost’ but wonderful in their scenes and the company were magnificent supporting roles to make this a truly magical pantomime.

The Director(Paul Woodhouse) had obviously worked hard in the use of the stage to create the perfect scenario and ‘subbed’ well as a lost boy.

The choreography was apt, simple and effective for panto but thought when Peter and Wendy were “flying” to Neverland it needed more “flying“ movement.

The scenery was suitable to the plot but I felt that the backstage crew would have been better in more condusive clothes. The cast looked great in their costumes and there was good use of furniture and props, the real fairy dust added the touch.

A point of note from a professional view, all of the cast should be aware of showing any costume to the audience prior to the performance. I absolutely loved the old fashioned style of pantomime with the marvellous plates scene and the audience singalong to the pirates on the poop deck, great fun!

A really spectacular extravaganza representing the very best in pantomime. Well done to you all.

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