Pantomime
Peter Pan
King’s Glasgow
Mary Brennan
Five stars
Prepare to cheer, applaud and laugh uproariously here - then give a huge birthday shout-out in celebration of 60 years of pantomime at the King’s!
Not every show sparkled and shone - times and tastes do change - but this caringly-crafted, family-friendly Peter Pan is a welcome reminder of panto’s enduring appeal. When Tink appears, we register how writer Alan McHugh has kept faith with the original story-line, while taking panto traditions in fresh (cross-dressing) directions - Tink’s a tutu-clad fella (Darren Brownlie) and Hook is the splendidly swaggering Hannah Jarrett-Scott who flies the Jolly Roger for equality among pirates.
The delightfully ditsy, frisky Brownlie has, across previous pantos, built up a spot-on, comedic rapport with Elaine C Smith and Johnny Mac. This now shows to hilarious effect in shared sequences where rapid patter and tongue-twisting word-play is made even funnier when one of the trio slips up, and the other two are overcome with glee - whee!
Both Smith (Mrs Smee) and Mac - as Smee, her glaikit son - have the knack of teasing and pleasing us with daft repartee but they also bring genuine heart to the characters: we care about them, and that’s as magic as Peter Pan’s ability to fly - which he does! Oh wow! And double-wow when Smith herself takes flight…
More special thrills arrive on-stage with a scary animatronic crocodile, and the real-life tumbling skills of the Acromaniacs, who cartwheel to and fro at speed during the song’n’ dance ensemble numbers. Blythe Jandoo and Matt Kennedy conjure up a believable boy/girl friendship between Wendy and Peter - singing tunefully but body-swerving soggy snogs that would upset the doting Tink. It all ends happily as, of course, we want it to.
It’s lavish, it’s spectacular, it’s generously entertaining for young and old alike - just as we want it to be. And it’s a joy-bringing show that says "here’s to the future of panto at the King’s".
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