Broken Legs Blog

Although the Christmas season is over for another year, that doesn’t mean panto season is quite over yet, as “Peter Pan” at Nottingham Theatre Royal continues to play until 12th January. Unfortunately, no one told the script editor, as the production still includes lines about the “magic of Christmas” and a reference to someone in the second row wearing a Christmas jumper (no one in the second row was wearing a Christmas jumper, because it’s January). Still, despite this, I settled down to enjoy this year’s panto treat, drawing on the famous story by J.M. Barrie.

As it turned out, very little of the panto drew on this story, since the characters that took up most of the stage time were the Magic Merman (Gok Wan) and Starkey (Paul Chuckle), who didn’t feature in the original story, whilst Peter Pan (Aiden Carson), Tinkerbell (Kate Stewart) and Wendy (understudy Jodie Ross) were relegated to mere supporting roles. The opening scene, which included some nifty 3-D projections to give the impression of flying over London, saw Wendy and her brothers John and Michael whisked off to Neverland without giving the audience chance to catch their breath, rushing through plot so we could get to the more important part of the show – Gok Wan.

Admittedly, Gok Wan is one of the stronger performers in this pantomime, expertly interacting with the audience, and clearly having a ball throughout. Whilst his character adds nothing to the story, he never fails to light up the stage every time he appears, his character acting as a surrogate for the usual pantomime dame. I particularly enjoyed Wan bringing understudy Jodie Ross to the front of the stage during the curtain call, making sure she got her well-deserved moment in the spotlight – showing that, despite being the main headliner for the show, Wan is very much a team player, which is a nice thing to see. In many of his scenes, Wan forms a double act with Paul Chuckle (sadly missing his brother Barry), who delivers his usual catchphrases to the delight of the audience. It does all feel a little lacklustre though, with Chuckle seemingly going through the motions without much enthusiasm – perhaps the lengthy panto season has begun to take its toll.

As if one fool wasn’t enough, we also have shipmate Smee, played by ventriloquist Steve Hewlett, a former Britain’s Got Talent finalist. Hewlett is joined by a variety of puppets across the show, including old man Arthur, who flirted with the ladies of the audience, toddler Chi-Chi, who asked Hewlett some difficult questions, and even a bottle of water that begged not to be drunk! Hewlett provided many comedic moments throughout – the best of which saw him pick an unsuspecting Dad out of the audience and turn him into a living puppet, thanks to an ingenious mask with moving mouth. This was a definite highlight of the show and received the most laughs of the night.

The villain of the show is Captain Hook (Richard Winsor), who takes on a fairly comedic role, meaning that the audience are often unsure whether to boo or not when he appears. A recurring joke about “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” gets tiresome quite quickly, but the opening number of Act Two, set to the tune of “Jailhouse Rock”, is a lot of fun. There are plenty of jokes for adults (including a dubiously-placed cucumber), but also lots for the kids to enjoy, including references to Fortnite that I’m sure went over many grandparents’ heads.

The show is full of life and colour throughout, with lyrics to popular songs reworked to fit the story, and larger-than-life crocodiles appearing from beneath the stage to gobble up Captain Hook. As always for a Crossroads Pantomime, the set and costumes are a marvel, bringing to life Hook’s pirate ship and the Lost Children’s secret hideout.

Overall, this is standard panto fayre, but it feels like it’s lacking the usual magic and excitement. Perhaps this is the cast feeling worn down at the end of a tiring run, or perhaps this is due to the fact that the pantomime doesn’t properly reflect the story that most of us are familiar with. Whatever the secret ingredient is, this pantomime is definitely missing something, resulting in a fairly disappointing finished product. Fingers crossed for better next year!

Tom Morley, January 2025