Peter Pan

The transformation of the hall was impressive, with a total turn around from the staging and set we have been used to seeing over many years.

The audience sat around the stage so all the action was focussed on movement ever changing.

The opening and general feel of this production was very colourful with some superb costumes under the expertise of Julie Wardley assited by Tonicha Rice,in fact some of the best costumes in Panto I have seen this season.

Mainly the songs chosen for the show were well known, albeit I felt some fitted better with the theme and story line rather more than others.

Peter Pan was very enthusiatically played by Kerrie Webster who gave her all for the entire performance. A very confident strong character with a strong singing voice and a great costume and look.

Tinkerbell with Hannah Cocks was very sweet, and with her gestures in place of dialogue it was a well played role.

The Darling family of Father played by Rob Maplestone Mother played by Hanna Nunn,Michael Darling with Sam Rumbelow and John  played by Minnie Gilbert and Wendy played by Emma Cole were fine.Perhaps Minnie (playing John) would have looked more like a boy with her hair tied back?

All the children in the cast did very well and looked as if they were enjoying themselves with confident appearances on stage.

Leading the Pirates was Bex Nicholls as Captain Hook in a most resplendent costume.As always Bex gave a very talented confident performance.

The cast had a lot of movement, and I do understand it needed to be so the audience could see all the action with the new lay out of the stage, but there were times it needed to slow down for solo’s in particular, when just simply to stand and sing would have added more to the feel of the songs “On My Own”sung so well by Madison Mayo as Tiger Lily, and a duet later on in the show with Hook and Peter for instance, are those that spring to mind.

I find the part of Smee a really complex character who needs to have a sense of fun, but dominated and rather afraid of Hook.James Finbow always works so hard to involve the audience, which can be difficult depending on the audience’s reaction. I felt more animation and life would have added to this character.

I did find some of the dialogue difficult to hear despite the cast all using head mic’s. It is so important to get the sound (when using backing tracks under speaking) really well balanced.

Hannah gave the young people some good choreography which they performed really well.

Overall a credit to Rob and the team in giving a new look and feel for the audiences enjoyment.

This group has a very loyal following which is an indication of the reputation here.

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