Peter Pan

Published Thursday 13 December 2007 at 13:15 by Alistair Smith

Schizophrenic is probably the best way to sum up this year’s Woking panto offering.

In the first half, it isn’t really a pantomime at all, but a middle of the road retelling of the Peter Pan story which takes itself far too seriously. Distressingly, the funniest feature of the first act is the eponymous hero’s hideous wig, which makes the unfortunate Clare Buckfield look like Rod Stewart at a fancy dress party.

Post-interval, the creative team seems to have remembered that the key to a good panto is audience participation. Henry Winkler (The Fonz to you and me) as Hook and Andy Collins as Smee are given more stage time, the children in the audience grow less restless and the show begins to transform into full-blown family entertainment at its best.

I’m not sure the cast can be blamed for any of this show’s shortcomings, but perhaps the mistake was in asking Ian Talbot - a man better known for his excellent open air Shakespeare seasons in Regent’s Park - to take directorial charge. Certainly, the genre’s low-brow delights are absent for far too much of the show.

When they do come to the fore - notably in a fabulous “The Twelve Days of Christmas” by Smee and his pirate company - they highlight how good a panto this could have been had its opening hour not been a nonentity.

In the end though, it just about redeems itself thanks to Winkler’s star quality, panto stalwart Collins’ audience work and some energetic comedy numbers from the pirate ensemble. Meanwhile, Lauri Owen’s turn as Indian princess Tiger Lilly will be sure to keep the fathers happy.