Anyone who is at least a semi-regular attendee to the Mayflower Theatre’s pantomime will have come to know what to expect and this year’s delivers just that.
It is a spectacular show, with tight performances, striking costumes, an impressive ensemble, a comedian and some big name draws.
There are also the familiar set pieces – the acrobats, the slapstick comedy routine song and a giant animatronic creature. In many ways, it functions as a variety show, with a number of highly skilled turns linked with a loose plot and something for all the family.
Different theatres tend to have different types of pantos and regular Mayflower audiences – especially the children amongst them – would surely be disappointed to find the Mayflower serving up something very different.
That said, one small, and for my party, pleasant change was the welcome absence of a huge bang to start the show. More sensitive youngsters have been known to find the start with a flash and a bang launch into the show of previous years distressing enough to have to be talked out of leaving within the first five minutes so it was definitely an improvement.
That said, it did start with some ‘wow’ moments. Before we even really knew the show was underway, there was Tink and Wendy flying round the stage and confetti falling onto the audience.
The loose plot sees Tink (Carly Joan Furlong) and Wendy (Rhiannin Chesterman) returning to Neverland for a visit after the supposed death of Captain Hook, who was swallowed by a crocodile.
Smee (Max Fulham) and Peter Pan (Noah Harrison) are now great mates. Peter can’t fly and it’s because the Magic Waterfall is running dry. Cue a mission to see what’s going on and try to fix it – but not if that dastardly Captain Hook (Alexandra Burke) gets her way, having escaped the crocodile’s belly and returned to take her revenge on Peter, Tink and friends.
Whilst he’s third on the bill, the show is anchored by Max Fulham with his Smee and puppet Gordon, providing plenty of laughs with rapid-fire wit from start to finish. The show features plenty of topical jokes – from the quickest way to see a doctor being buying a panto ticket – Dr Ranj stars as the Magical Merman – to pop culture references to Wicked, The Masked Singer, The Traitors and Jet 2 Holidays, and certain current social media trend, alongside gentle digs at city districts and its plethora of traffic lights.
Max used his excellent ventriloquism skills to great effect, especially when recruiting an audience member to join him on stage for the funniest scene of the show.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Mayflower Theatre panto without a star turn or two, and this year’s headline star, Alexandra Burke, shines particularly brightly. At one point she has a line that she’s a ‘triple threat’ referencing the X-Factor winner and Strictly Come Dancing finalist’s abundant ability to sing, dance and, yes, also act.
Pantos often feature well known songs segued into the show, which gave Burke the opportunity to perform two of her biggest hits, Bad Boys and, of course, Hallelujah. For my money, the only disappointment here was that they were abridged versions of these songs and that she didn’t perform a couple more solos – her voice really is goosebump-giving amazing.
The other big name draw was CBeebies favourite and another Strictly Come Dancing contestant, Dr Ranj, who shone in the relayed tongue-twister scene, causing much mirth when he fluffed his complicated lines.
He also played the slapstick song routine for laughs, which featured the combination of highly choreographed ‘accidents’, some staged ones and some that might or might not have been supposed to happen.
Of course, children in the audience accepted the majority of these as genuine mishaps and were roaring with laughter.
The show features impressive performances from all the cast and an incredibly tight ensemble, who wear an amazing array of often inexplicable costumes. I have no idea why they were dressed in candy colours and sparkly bowler hats to perform an adapted version of APT., or why they later appeared dressed like majorettes on Independence day, or as a cross between compasses and Las Vegas showgirls – and boys – resplendent in a lot of gold. But the costumes were stunning and if you can’t get your most spectacular of glad-rags on for the panto, when can you?
A mention must also be given to the impressive performance from gymnast and tumbler troupe, The Acromaniacs, who offered a fast paced, highly skilled and comedic routine as pirates putting Smee through his paces whilst performing a range of high paced somersaults.
Overall, the show did exactly what it was meant to, putting huge smiles on the audience’s faces with that idiosyncratic British tradition that is panto. It offered an evening of escapism into a world of magic and wonder, and offered plenty of fodder for the way home conversation of ‘what was your favourite bit?’
Tickets for The Pantomime Adventures of Peter Pan (Saturday 13 December 2025 – Sunday 4 January 2026) are on sale at mayflower.org.uk or 02380 711811.
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