New Adventures Of Peter Pan At The Hawth Theatre, Crawley Review

Reviewed by Kelly Victoria

It was a pleasure to be invited to watch The New Adventures of Peter Pan at The Hawth Theatre in Crawley last night.

If you live locally, you’ll know that The Hawth have a fabulous reputation for putting on a brilliant panto each year and this was no exception. The theatre was playing Christmassy songs in the foyer, setting the scene for the festive evening ahead. As we entered into the theatre to take our seats we were greeted with a fabulous projection on the stage whilst we waited for the theatre to fill up ready for the show to start.

This was a different twist on the ‘regular’ Peter Pan story as it was an adventure to be taken by Wendy Darling’s (now adult) daughter Lizzie into Neverland.

Lizzie (Kira MacCarter) flies off into Neverland with Peter Pan and is finds herself on an adventure similar to that of her Mother’s. With a frosty reception from Tink at the start, who is as jealous of Lizzie as she was Wendy Darling. Lizzie is persuaded by Peter Pan and the Lost Boys to become their Mother. However, of course Captain Hook is on the case and is out to capture Peter and Lizzie. All ends well though when Tink (Rosanna Harris) saves her life and drinks a drink poisoned by Hook, before Lizzie is able to. But with lots of support from the audience Tink is saved. Lizzie retells the original Peter Pan story to the Lost Boys and realises her Mother (Katy Dean) must be missing her too and decides to return home.

The show was full of all of the fun and hilarious antics you’d expect in any panto. Michael J Batchelor as Mrs Smee and Richard Franks as Starkey make a hilarious duo and one of my absolute favourite parts was them getting stuck in the boat on stage, which appeared to be totally unscripted. The beauty of panto is the parts that go a bit wrong and they had the audience howling in their seats. They were both absolutely hilarious throughout and a huge hit with the kids and adults alike.

Karim Zeroual famous for being a CBBC presenter and Strictly contestant played a lovable Peter Pan and flew through the air many times much to the delight of the audience. Peter and Lizzie were adorable together and created some wonderful moments through the show and represented their endearing relationship well.

It was refreshing to see Hook played by a female and EastEnders Rita Simons did a great job receiving plenty of boos and hisses. With a few EastEnders gags thrown in, she was fantastic at encouraging the audience and getting them involved.

A big shout out has to go the cast of wonderful dancers who bought so much fun to the show with their moves. Every single one had huge smiles and performed with so much vigour and enthusiasm. A panto isn’t the same without big dance numbers and this is was no exception. Although, I did miss the absence of children in the cast. They all did a fantastic job and really bought the show together with their vigour, enthusiasm and supported the rest of the cast brilliantly.

No panto is complete without wonderful costumes and so big kudos has to be given to the wardrobe department who did an amazing job. The costumes were wonderfully put together. Mrs Smee had some hilariously ridiculous outfits and wigs which bought much laughter every time she walked onto the stage. The walk down costumes were gold, glittery and glamorous and were perfect to end the show with.

The set was amazing with wonderful props, lighting and curtains with projections that were incredible as Peter and Lizzie flew over London. There were also special effects galore with bubbles over the audience, pyrotechnics and confetti canons!

The show ended with the whole audience on their feet dancing to Reach For the Stars which was an absolute delight.

If you want a festive and fun family evening get yourself booked to go and watch for yourself. It’s always a hugely popular show and a highlight of the year for Crawley locals. So, tickets sell fast and I’d recommend getting yours quickly.

Rating: 4/5

The show is on from 15th December 2022 until 2 January 2023

Tickets cost from £26.00

For more information or to book tickets please visit All New Adventures of Peter Pan – The Hawth Crawley | Parkwood Theatres

Address: The Hawth, Hawth Avenue, Crawley, RH10 6YZ