The Panto Adventures Of Peter Pan At The Towngate Theatre, Basildon Review

Reviewed by Wanda Ramsey

Opened on Wednesday 23rd of November running until Monday 2nd Jan and is fantastic entertainment for all the family. Expect the unexpected along with slapstick comedy, adult humour, and a shower or two.

Sophie Ladds gave a brilliant performance as the villain, Captain Hook, Ian Hallard as The Dame Mrs Smee and sidekick Wibbles played by Michael Loftus and their rendition of the 12 Days of Christmas as a finale was hilarious. The audience were engaged throughout the show with some spectacular flying scenes from Harvey Zaffino making his debut as Peter Pan.

We are introduced to the Darling Family – Mr and Mrs Darling and their children Wendy, John, Michael and Nana the dog in the nursery of their Kensington home overlooking the London skyline. Mr Darling is annoyed over the children’s constant references to Peter Pan and tells Wendy she is now too old for the nursery and must move to her own room and Nana is banished to her kennel for the night as she hadn’t supervised the children properly.

The children, upset at the news decide to leave the window open one last time to see if Pan will visit. Tinkerbelle arrives quickly followed by Peter and after some discussion and still sad about the evenings events the children decide to go with Peter to Neverland but how are they going to get there? Peter gives the children a sprinkle of fairy dust to enable them to fly and off they go through the night skies over London and beyond until they reach Neverland. There Wendy, John and Michael meet The Lost Boys, Wendy reads them stories and they accept her as their mother.

Next, we go to The Jolly Rodger where we meet Captain Hook and crew to a fabulous rendition of Killer Queen. We meet The Crocodile and hear the story of why Hook hates the sound of ticking clocks.

We meet Tinkerbelle who, jealous of the sweet Wendy ends up betraying her beloved Pan to get rid her rival. A kidnap, a rescue, by Peter of course and the beautiful Tigerlilly is returned to her family.

Wendy’s stories to the lost boys about a mother longing for the return of her children eventually make her realise they need to return home to their family where she will need to ‘grow up’. The Lost Boys decide they want to return with them leaving Peter in denial and declaring he will never ‘grow up’.

Great renditions of ‘No Way’ from Six and Sam Ryders ‘Spaceman’, fabulous dancing all interspersed with the comedy of Mrs Smee and Wibbles made a brilliant show, definitely one to see this year.

Towngate Theatre
St, Martins Square
Basildon SS14 1DL

Getting there
Train. C2C, Basildon station is 6 minutes’ walk from the Theatre.
Car. Westgate car park is next door to the Theatre, but it might be worth prepaying parking as there were long queues on exit.

Facilities
Wheelchair-accessible
Car park
Lift
Toilet
Entrance
Seating

Café Bar
The Café opens 2 hrs before the show on Saturdays and Sundays, serving a selection of light bites and main meals with card payments only.
The bar had a good selection of drinks, snacks and ice creams. Service was quick and efficient and again card only.

Seating was comfortable with good views from all areas.

Tickets from £13.00

For more information or to book tickets please visit The Panto Adventures of Peter Pan | Towngate Theatre

Running time approx. 2 hours 40 mins

Rating: 5/5