Shropshire Star

Peter Pan and pirates have families hooked at Shrewsbury's Theatre Severn panto

[gallery] Boos, hisses and shouts of "he's behind you" can only mean one thing – it's Christmas and the panto is back in town.

Published

Children, parents and grandparents packed in to Shrewsbury's Theatre Severn to see this year's offering, the classic tale of eternal youth that is Peter Pan.

The story will be familiar to all – Wendy, Michael and John Darling are transported from the tedium of their London bedroom on a magical adventure to Neverland with the boy who never grows old and his trusty sidekick Tinkerbell.

Of course, it would not be a pantomime without its fair share of chaos, slapstick and audience participation thrown in.

The star of the show, and in nearly every scene, is Mrs Smee, played by Brad Fitt returning to Theatre Severn for his fourth stint as a pantomime dame. He has been voted the best in the country in the past for this kind of role and it was easy to see why.

Fitt is also director of the show, which has been written again by former Wheel of Fortune presenter Paul Hendy, who hails from Telford. And well-written it is, too.

But as with most pantos, the most laughs often come when things go wrong and last night was no different.

Mrs Smee's difficulties in getting her rowing boat to go in a straight line and in the right direction drew some of the biggest laughs of the night.

The crowd also lapped up the local references, which included the joke from Mrs Smee: "I bought an advent calendar from Wolverhampton the other day. Half of the windows were boarded up."

Radio Shropshire's breakfast host Eric Smith returned to the cast as Eric the Overacting Pirate and had to put up with constant good-natured digs about his abilities on the stage – as well as having to die twice after being shot by Captain Hook.

It was a strong cast, albeit one without the presence of a star TV name.

Schoolchildren from the county took part in some of the scenes and were brilliant – well done to all.

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