Peter Pan at the Royal & Derngate Northampton Review
Peter Pan
Royal & Derngate, Northampton
5 December 2014 to 4 January 2015
Reviewed by Michelle Llabani
I took my two boys, aged 4 and 7 to see Peter pan last night at the Royal & Derngate in Northampton. My youngest is a big Jake and the Neverland Pirates fan and was very excited to be going to see Peter and Captain Hook for real.
We were greeted as we entered the Royal & Derngate by the sound of a beautiful choir singing Christmas carols in the foyer, perfect to put us in the Christmas mood. Tickets were easy to collect and there wasn’t a huge queue if you had needed to buy tickets on the night.
On taking our seats, in the sold out theatre, I notice that there was a really good cross section of ages present, from small children to grandparents, there were even lots of teenagers and couples without children, showing that pantos really are for everyone. The atmosphere was excellent; people were obviously looking forward to enjoying the show.
The show opened with a sumptuous scene based in London, where we meet the darling children played by Amy Beadel, Harry Biddle and Nicholas Mooney and the many extras both adults and children. From the moment the curtain lifted we could tell that this was going to be a visual and an aural feast. My boys, who are generally quite unsure, especially when the level of noise is high, were enthralled.
Photo by Manuel Harlan
As the show progressed it became clear that there was a format. Big musical numbers would be followed by comical interludes. The star of the show was undoubtedly Joe Pasquale playing Smee. He had both me and my children laughing out loud with his comic capers. My 4 year found his 2 motorbike scene particularly hilarious, whilst my eldest liked the bumble bee water joke. As in all pantomimes at time the humour edged towards the adult, with singing bras and insinuations about Ms Smee’s eagerness with men, however these most definitely went over the head of my children, whilst entertaining the adults in the audience.
Ceri Dupree, as Ms. Smee was also a delight. The number of costume changes were impressive, and his Tina Turner highly amusing. My eldest simply didn’t believe me when I told him that it was a man! Mind you, his legs were amazing!
Alex Gianni was sufficiently nasty to evoke some fear in the children present, Lucy Evans hit the mix of fairy like and mischievous perfectly in her role of Tinkerbell and Ross Carpenter was a great Peter Pan.
Photo by Manuel Harlan
Credit should also be given to the creative team. All of the staging was excellent, with a life size Jolly Roger and a talking mechanical parrot, however the absolute magical moment came at the end of act one with the tick-tock crocodile. It was absolutely ginormous! Taking up the whole stage, reaching out into the crowd, it must have been 20 foot high. The volume of its roar was immense and genuinely caused shock and excitement amongst the crowd. What a treat!
Overall I would give this performance 5 stars, excellent staging, lots of laughs and good family entertainment all for around £16 a ticket… long live the panto!
Rating: 5/5 
Tickets cost from £10 to £26.50 (plus £2.80 transaction fee).
Peter Pan is at the Royal & Derngate until 4 January 2015. For more information or to book tickets click here or call the box office on 01604 624811.
Royal & Derngate, Guildhall Road, Northampton, NN1 1DP | 01604 624811
