REVIEW: Peter Pan at Bristol Hippodrome
A joyous panto at Bristol Hippodrome this Christmas…
“It’s not Christmas until Faye from Steps and Poirot sing Tragedy together of stage”. This is what my friend said to me as we left Peter Pan the panto at Bristol Hippodrome.
In other words, only in panto land can these bonkers and brilliant things happen.
I didn’t know how David Suchet would go down as the villain Captain Hook, in a panto such as this. My first thoughts were, that’s an odd casting decision and I’m not sure it would pull in the crowds.
Much to my delight, not only was he the perfect panto villain but the biggest cheers of the night were for any reference to French…sorry, Belgian detective.
Indeed, the clever twist in this particular panto, (yes, I know, a clever twist in panto), is centred on the knight of the realm himself, and the audience absolutely lapped it up.
I won’t give away the story here as it’s actually an incredibly poignant moment, which elevates this panto above many others as it doesn’t purely rely on the slapstick that the art form is famed for.
Of course, that slapstick is there in spades and it’s in the safest of hands with son of Bristol himself, Andy Ford as Smee.
The best of Welsh also makes an appearance here with panto dame and female impersonator extraordinaire Ceri Dupree, at times Cher, but mostly Smee’s Mum. The outfits alone are worth the ticket price.
Peter Pan is the title but we get to see very little of the forever young man, with space needing to be made for Faye Tozer as Mimi the Mermaid. Every single pun you can possibly imagine relating to her Steps career is included, if I’m honest it felt like a chain reaction.
In the title role is young actor Hugo Rolland, a talented performer who we could have done with seeing more of. He brought a positive energy to proceeding each time he entered the fray.
The highlight of the night, has to be a rendition of the 12 Days of Christmas where four of the cast (Ford, Dupree, Tozer and Suchet) each take a section of the song and have to keep the song going counting from the 1st day to the 12th day in cycles that see them become more and more exhausted. Inevitably it all goes wrong, with Andy Ford’s props ending up in orchestra pit at one point, much to the delight of the audience.
If I had to describe it one word, joyous is the word I would choose. This theatre tradition still has its place and as my good friend said, where else will you see David Suchet and Faye from Steps sing Tragedy on stage together. At the Bristol Hippodrome’s panto this Christmas is the answer.
Peter Pan runs at Bristol Hippodrome until New Year’s Eve. Get your tickets here.