The Further Adventures of Peter Pan: The Return of Captain Hook at Waterside Theatre Aylesbury Review
DISCLOSURE – TICKETS TO SEE THE SHOW WERE GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW
Reviewed by Mel Randle
Last night we had our annual family Christmas excursion to the pantomime, this year to see The Further Adventures Of Peter Pan: The Return Of Captain Hook in Aylesbury! Set 80+ years after the original story, we see Emily Darling (great, great granddaughter of Wendy) join forces with Peter Pan and Tinkerbell to take on the dastardly Captain Hook before seeing him off with the help of a croc! An all too familiar story but with the usual gubbins to ensure that our pantomime palette was satisfied!
It wasn’t an ‘all-star cast’ – Peter Pan was played by Bradley Riches whom some will be familiar with but we weren’t, but actor Mark Moraghan, of who I am a fan, was a fabulous baddy as Hook, and Three Counties Radio host Andy Collins provided a fantastic comedic Smee. Collins had huge support from the audience given that he is apparently a bit of a local celeb (we are not local so a fact we weren’t aware of)
The set was bright and colourful with lots of changing scenery and curtains to move us from the Darling’s residence to Neverland and onto the Jolly Roger. Lighting, dry ice and pyrotechnics created atmosphere and a great sensory experience for all. And given that it was Peter Pan, there was lots of flying, amongst the audience as well as on stage! Lots of gorgeous eye catching costumes too including Day-Glo dresses and light up fairy wings for Tinkerbell and her Babybels!
Singing and dancing was in abundance as expected. It got off to a great start in the first half with a belter from Hamilton (I am a super fan!) but as a negative, I did feel the serious songs far outweighed the big toe tapping numbers and I found them, dare I say it, a little bit boring. That being said, the female leads Leanne Garretty, Emma Jay Thomas and Maeve Byrne did a great job delivering them!
I was very pleased to see the show includes all the ingredients of a great panto. Topical jokes, booing, ‘he’s behind you’, picking on audience members and lots of audience interaction. At the beginning of the second half Smee and friends entertained us with their version of ‘The Twelve Days Of Christmas’. At the start of this section, we felt like we had turned up late to a party and weren’t sure what was going on because apparently this is something they do every year and we haven’t been before. What then happened in the next 20 minutes or so can only be described as sheer chaos. But it was hilarious!! Without giving the whole game away, it involves the whole audience, toilet rolls, water pistols and a flying Smee!! I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house – but that could have been through laughter or water pistols!!!
For nearly three hours we were all thoroughly entertained. Kids and adults alike had a good old laugh at a load of daft nonsense, including a TikTok crocodile which, let’s be honest, you’d only get away with in a pantomime. The Christmas season has arrived and we all went off into the cold dark night with our spirits well and truly lifted.
Rating: 5/5
The Further Adventures of Peter Pan: The Return of Captain Hook live at Aylesbury Waterside Theatre
Friday 6th December 2024 – Sunday 5th January 2025
Tickets available from £13.00 subject to a transaction fee of £3.95
For more information and to book tickets visit www.atgtickets.com.