The Pantomime Adventures Of Peter Pan At Regent Theatre, Stoke on Trent Review

Reviewed by Becky B

‘Aye up me ducks’ its panto time in Stoke again and panto at the Regent theatre wouldn’t be panto without Johnny Wilks and this year was the best yet!

We travelled to the theatre by car, and there was ample reasonably priced parking within a 5 minute walk of the theatre. The theatre itself was decorated for Christmas and there was a real buzz about the venue on the opening night. I visited with our family, including two teenagers and wasn’t sure if it would keep them entertained, but I needn’t have worried there was plenty of appeal for all ages and we didn’t stop laughing for the whole two and a half hours. There are a couple of bars inside the theatre where alcoholic drinks can be purchased and plenty of stations where snacks, soft drinks and light up toys could be bought. Despite the theatre being busy, we didn’t really have to queue for any time to be served.

Upon entering the auditorium, the stage was set with magical lighting and plenty of glitter. With each set change, the scenes were transformed from the magical forest of Neverland, to Peter Pan’s hide out and then to the Jolley Roger, with the sets creating just the right atmosphere, and with plenty more sparkles.
This year’s story is based after the original Peter Pan story, with Wendy returning to Never Land because Peter Pan has forgotten how to fly.

The show is introduced by Tinker Belle (Amanda Coutts) and we quickly meet Bosun Smee (Johnny Wilkes), who has befriended Peter Pan and is helping him and Wendy to find more magic dust so Peter can fly again. Captain Hook (Kai Owens) is the perfect comedy villain as he tries to stop Peter Pan and Wendy from finding the magic dust that has been lost. We sat in the stalls and had an amazing view of the whole stage.

Johnny was the headline artist and did a fantastic job of hosting the panto and as always created a great rapport with the crowd. Having seen pantos in other venues, I always feel there is a warmth with the Regent theatre pantomime, and this is largely down to Johnny.

There was fantastic chemistry between the whole cast, but especially between Captain Hook and Bosun Smee, with Tinkerbelle joining in with the fun and laughs too. We all did not stop laughing throughout the whole performance, with some great adlibs too. It was obvious that the cast were having a great time on stage and this joy was shared by the audience.

The main characters were supported by a wider cast, who played the role of pirates and lost boy and girls and were very talented with great vocals and dancing. There were several familiar songs, with the lyrics adapted for the occasion and plenty more singing and dancing too. Tinkerbelle was magical, with flying scenes, roller skating around the stage and a fantastic singing voice! The costumes were well designed for the storyline and complimented the set design.
There were so many highlights its difficult to narrow it down to one or two, but the Twelve Days of Christmas number and The Wonder of you were both very popular with the audience and personal favourites of ours too.

Throughout the Panto, there was plenty of local humour, good natured banter and audience participation, with Johnny teaching the audience some of his dance moves and getting audience members up on stage! The adult humour flowed throughout, and my sides hurt when I left from all the laughing, but it was subtle enough to go over the heads of the younger audience members and kept our teenagers chuckling along too. With the usual ‘Oh no he isn’t’ and ‘he’s behind you’ thrown in for good measure the evening was a huge hit with the entire family.
I can’t recommend this Panto highly enough; it is a great evening of Christmassy entertainment that will keep the whole family amused and entertained!

Rating: We would all rate this panto 5/5 stars!

Tickets cost from £13 plus a transaction fee of £3.80

The Pantomime Adventures of Peter Pan is at the Regent Theatre, Hanley from 9th December until Saturday 31st December 2022.

For more information or to book tickets visit: https://www.atgtickets.com/venues/regent-theatre/ or call the box office on 0844 871 7627.

The Regent Theatre, Piccadilly, Hanley, Stoke on Trent, ST1 1AP