For a few years now the team at The Hawth, Crawley have delivered a top-quality pantomime, with the 2022 production, The All New Adventures of Peter Pan, the latest in a long line of superb shows and, dare I say it, the best yet!
The action has moved on from Peter’s original adventures and Wendy Darling is now a mother to her daughter Elizabeth, a girl who is just as fascinated by stories of the boy who can fly and never grows up. Of course, as he promised, it isn’t long before Peter Pan and Tinkerbell return to the bedroom to start an all new adventure.
Although he is a familiar face, from his time on CBBC, playing Peter Pan is Karim Zeroual’s pantomime debut, but you would never notice as he struts around the stage, with suitable arrogance, and flies high above it with consummate skill. Still looking after the Lost Boys and, in the updated version, the Lost Girls of Neverland, he is just as determined as ever that he will never grow up, and continues to be reluctant to take that medicine!
In another update, the role of Captain Hook is played, for the first time in an Evolution Productions pantomime, by a female. Rita Simons is another famous face from TV but, if you saw her as Miss Hedge in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie in the West End, you’ll know that she’s also a fine comedian and a powerful singer. She brings a whole new dynamic to the role and, based on the huge success of her performance, more female Captains will follow.
Traditionally, in Peter Pan, George Darling and Captain Hook are played by the same actor. In this all new adventure it is Wendy Darling who returns but, as Myrtle the Mermaid. Played by Katy Dean, and all the way from deepest Essex, Myrtle is a genius creation. Loaded with one-liners, and a scarily accurate accent, Myrtle’s style and streetwise savvy make her a joy to behold.
As Elizabeth “Lizzie” Darling and Tinkerbell, Kira MacCarter and Rosanna Harris keep the story moving along at the perfect pace. Lizzie with her wide-eyed innocent enthusiasm, and Tinkerbell with her defiant attitude, work well as opposites that, at first, polarise the audience but, later in the show, manipulate proceedings sufficiently to both be in favour with the crowd.
Special mention goes to six very talented, and hardworking individuals next. Although they are individuals, Jessie Adams, Nicole Reeves, Emily Woodford, Harley Emmitt, Lewis Linford and Jamie Shields work perfectly as a team, and play Pirates, Mermaids and Mermen, Servants and The Lost Boys and Girls. Quick changes, complex dance routines, comedy and a superb sense of fun make this ensemble really stand out. They are having so much fun and, as a result of that, so are we.
And, finally, to the source of so much of the fun. Michael J Batchelor and Richard Franks, as Mrs Smee and Starkey the Pirate, are a comedy tour de force. They know each other so well that, in the same way as the greats like Morcombe and Wise did, they can anticipate a situation and milk it for every laugh possible. It is many years since I have, quite literally, cried with laughter at a pantomime – and it felt so good!!!
From start to finish this is a first-class production. Every detail has been thought through. Lighting, sound, set design, song choices (with cleverly rewritten lyrics), flying scenes and a laugh-out-loud script all come together to provide the people of Crawley with a superb production. The All New Adventures of Peter Pan is so much more than a pantomime, it’s a West End quality festive show.
***** Five stars