Tag Archives: Gordon Cooper

Review – The All New Adventures of Peter Pan, Royal and Derngate, Northampton 7th December 2025

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©Pamela Raith

Yes, I can’t believe it’s almost Christmas either. But as sure as night follows day, the pantomime season swings into action, bringing its delightful formula of bad jokes, audience interaction, ghosts lurking behind benches and wheelbarrows heaving with puns. Evolution Pantomimes’ offering for Northampton this year is Peter Pan – The All New Adventures of, because we’ve moved on from Wendy Darling (who everyone agrees was SO BORING) to Poppy Sunshine, and Never Never Land has become Forever Land; go figure. But some things just don’t change: the mischievous Tinkerbell, the villainous Captain Hook and Peter Pan, of course; he’s no longer a child as Hook points out, but an actor with Botox and Mounjaro (don’t sue me, I’m only quoting what he said). And we mustn’t forget the Lost Boys and Girls, and the crocodile – this year, chummily known as Colin.

©Pamela Raith

Evolution are masters at pantomime and this year’s show is no exception. They have a great understanding of which panto traditions are sacrosanct, and which ones you can play with a little. The ghost bench is always a winning combination – but in a nice nod to Peter Pan this year, the ghost comes down from the sky on a wire. The musical numbers consist of a few classic pop songs – the Tina Turner double-bill that sends us into the interval is fabulous – mixed with several songs from musical theatre. Sweeney Todd’s Not While I’m Around has its scary subplot removed and becomes a sweet lullaby in the orphanage, Stick it to the Man from Rock of Ages works very well and, best of all, the mermaids using Welcome to the Rock from Come from Away as their theme for Mermaid Cove – it makes absolute sense that mermaids would affirm their identity with the chant I Am an Islander.

©Pamela Raith

There’s also one of those water pistol moments. Foolish me; as it had been raining, I brought a bag with me so that my programme would stay pristine whilst walking home. However, by the time Gordon Cooper’s Mrs Sweet had soaked the central stalls with her bazookas it had wilted into a soggy mess. But it’s all part of the Essence of Pantomime, which just so happens to be precisely that intangible substance that Captain Hook is trying to steal and destroy, so that he can eradicate laughter, music, dancing, and, above all, booing. What a bad fellow he is. You’ll be pleased to discover he fails in his quest.

©Pamela Raith

There’s energetic song and dance from the boys and girls of the chorus, amusing interruptions from Ethel the Overacting Pirate and Trevor the Pirate who can’t be Bothered, and the super-messy but very funny ice-cream making interlude. Musically, this is a particularly strong pantomime with two outstanding musical performances, from Millie Davies as Poppy and Simone Robinson as Miss Doodle/Myrtle. Neal Parsons and Emily Walder’s media videography is extremely effective, with the walls and door of Poppy’s orphanage bedroom shimmering into a dream sequence and a glorious projection of Poppy and Tink’s flight over London and beyond into orbit. This is the magic of pantomime; and there’s nothing quite like it.

©Pamela Raith

John Thomson leads the cast as the baddie Captain Hook; he has a fine and imposing stage presence and is appropriately malign, so that he fully deserves his boos. There’s a hilarious brief sequence where he attempts to deliver a powerful soliloquy in an ever-diminishing follow spot – it’s a lovely piece of physical comedy. And he can play the drums too! Oliver Scott plays our gang leader Charlie with immense and addictive enthusiasm and forms a fun double act with CBeebies favourite George Webster, whom the children in the audience absolutely adored.

©Pamela Raith

Gordon Cooper relishes all the opportunities that being the pantomime dame can offer. As Mrs Sweet, she nicely plays up to her new boyfriend of the afternoon, the unfortunate front-row Chris (who was a very good sport indeed) and drives the show on with pace and power and a lot of splendidly outrageous costumes. I mustn’t forget the impishly cheeky Tink in the form of Georgia Brierley-Smith, and a big shout-out to Uncle Joe Church and his Royal and Derngate Philharmonic, playing their instruments from the side boxes, who create a bigger band sound than is decent from just four musicians.

©Pamela Raith

I must be honest; Sunday afternoon’s show was occasionally a little chaotic, but I have no doubt that any tiny niggles will sort themselves out admirably over the next couple of performances. And anyway, when things do go a little awry, that just adds to the Essence of Pantomime! Above all, the kids loved it, and that’s what really counts.

4-starsFour They’re Jolly Good Fellows!

Review – Cinderella, Royal and Derngate, Northampton, 21st December 2024

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The big panto at the Royal and Derngate for Christmas ‘24 is Cinderella, one of the best loved panto stories of all time, and given all the colourful, brash treatment you would expect from Evolution Productions. All the vital elements are there – lots of singing and dancing, vivacious and eccentric costumes, putting the spotlight on one poor bloke in the audience for unwanted advances from the Ugly Sisters (well done to Jamie for taking one for the team), a ghost bench, a favourite children’s TV star, a Fairy Godmother, and of course a happy ending.

One of the joys of a well done panto is its ability to appeal to an audience of all ages. It’s most important that it captivates the children – after all, they are the theatregoers of the future – but it also needs to have plenty in it for the mums and dads. This particular production is heavily targeted at the youngsters, and it’s a pleasure to see how enraptured they are by it, with very noisy audience participation in the singalongs and pointing out the ghosties.

One of the more interesting aspects of this production is how it addresses some stereotyping that you find in every panto – with Muriel the overconfident eight year old stepping in to point out that Cinderella doesn’t need a Prince Charming to be a fully realised woman, and that if she’s cooking and cleaning for her sisters then she’s doing it on her own terms. Cue at least 50% of the audience quietly muttering You Go Gurl under their breath. This Cinderella is not the usual browbeaten drudge who caves in at bullying; rather, she calls it out and challenges the sisters for their outrageous treatment of her. When she tells them that she refuses to cry no matter what they do to her, you realise this is an excellent life lesson for the children to learn and may give confidence to any kids present who are being bullied at school. It’s a shame then, that this message does not follow through; when they later insist that she tears up her invitation to the Royal Ball she rather pathetically complies, instead of telling them to stick their vindictiveness where the sun doesn’t shine. It’s an unfortunate inconsistency in the characterisation.

Our Fairy Godmother, played by Joanne Clifton, is still earning her stripes and she won’t get a magic wand unless she manages to make two people fall in love for who they are rather than for their titles; it’s another interesting modern message, this fairy isn’t merely matchmaking a Prince and Princess. Naturally Ms Clifton brings all her dancing skills to the role, and there are lots of Strictly Come Dancing elements to the show. However, she hasn’t been part of Strictly for eight years now, and with her other stage credits in between, I do wonder how much longer this association remains credible; and despite her enthusiasm, I did feel she struggled to come across to the audience.

Andy Day’s Andini (not Dandini – you can see what they did there) fared better with the hordes of kids who just adore him; he has an excellent role-swapping relationship with his Prince Charming and works through the Barrowful of Puns with Dave Bibby’s Buttons with entertaining aplomb. Mr Bibby is at his best when expressing his unrequited love for Cinderella and how upset he is at the fact that she loves him only as a brother. Gordon Cooper and Matt Daines’ wicked stepsisters are a gruesome twosome who unite vanity and cruelty in equal measure, and their prime victim, Marcavia McCarthy’s Cinderella, has a superb voice and is an excellent match for Marcellus Whyte’s Prince Charming.

But here’s the thing: something about this panto just doesn’t gel properly. Despite all its first-rate elements, it’s one of those occasions when its sum is less than its parts. I don’t think it was the funniest of scripts, at times it seems to move along rather slowly and lacks energy, and I fear some of the characterisations are rather bland. I don’t think I am alone; at the end of the show, when the cast galvanise everyone to get up on their feet and clap along with the final number, hardly anyone did. Nevertheless, there was plenty of enthusiasm from the kids in the audience throughout the show and I’m sure many families went home beaming from ear to ear. It just slightly missed the mark for me.

3-starsThree-sy Does It!