Review: The New Adventures of Peter Pan
When it comes to panto they don’t come much better than the Colchester Mercury’s productions and this year they turn their hand to Peter Pan. Or to be more accurate The New Adventures of Peter Pan, at first I must admit I was unsure about a rewriting of a classic but it’s essentially an updated version breathing some new life into the story.
All the usual characters are still here, Peter Pan, Captain Hook, Wendy, Tinkerbelle and of course Smee. Plus being a panto you have to have a dame but as this is The Mercury, it’s not any dame, it is THE DAME to beat all dames in pantoland. Anthony Stuart-Hicks once more returns to the Colchester stage, this year as Sherry Smee, mother of seaman Smee (Dale Superville). This is the ninth year that that Stuart-Hicks and Superville have appeared together and therefore the comic timing between the pair just gets stronger and stronger.
Essentially Captain Hook has survived his previous encounter with the crocodile and returns to fight Peter Pan and the Lost Boys. This panto has everything, there’s slapstick and gags aplenty, some great musical numbers (and amazing voices), zombies, breathtaking sets and of course flying!
If you don’t enjoy this then you need to be made to walk the plank. Simply put the best panto I’ve seen in East Anglia.
- The New Adventures of Peter Pan, The Mercury Theatre, Colchester until Sunday 19th January, 2025 – www.mercurytheatre.co.uk
Review: Mark Keable, Ipswich24 Magazine.
Pictures: Pamela Raith
