"Grab a ticket and escape to Neverland!" Jenny Rainbird

All aboard for a magical, fast paced and all round fun family show as ‘The Pantomime Adventures of Peter Pan’ flies into The Mayflower. 

This is a different take on the traditional Peter Pan story.

Due to the Magic Waterfall running dry Peter Pan, played brilliantly by the youthful and graceful Noah Harrison, can no longer fly.

Meanwhile Wendy, sweetly played by Rhiannon Chesterman with a speaking voice to match and loveable Tink, performed sassily by Carly Joan Furlong, have returned to Neverland as Captain Hook has supposedly been swallowed by a huge crocodile. 

At the helm and steering the show throughout was the hugely talented Max Fulham who was sensational as Smee. His quick humour was sharper than Hook’s hook and his physical acting skills were outstanding. 

I was slightly skeptical when I saw on a poster that Max is a ventriloquist and has a monkey as his sidekick as, although these performers are hugely talented, it’s not my go to type of act.

However, Max proved me wrong. Gordon, his ‘pri mate’ was adorable and I almost believed he was real! Max is so skilled at his craft that even with some tricky words to pronounce, such as Prosecco, were not going to phase him and I couldn’t see his mouth moving at all. 

His humour appealed to all ages and a little boy in front of me was squealing with laughter! He had the biggest applause at the end of the show and I hope he will return to The Mayflower in panto again very soon, maybe as Little John next year playing alongside Diversity?

You heard it here first! 

This production was full of well loved panto sketches which are always a crowd pleaser and everyone has their favourites. One included a hilarious tongue twister about the Shore Sisters and exchanges between Smee, Peter Pan and the Magical Merman, energetically portrayed by the popular tv doctor, Dr Ranj, who brought sunshine to the stage and can sing to boot!

With so many words starting with ‘sh’ it was inevitable that there would be a slip up or two and Dr Ranj looked genuinely aghast and amused when he tripped up and let a naughty noun out instead!

Max Fulham also did a fabulous impression of Sean Connery’s voice when Dr Ranj said, ‘shertain, instead of certain’. ‘Are you shertain, Miss Moneypenny?’

Other sketches revolved around popular tv shows, including ‘The Masked Singer’ and the song, ‘A Sailor went to Sea, Sea, Sea,’ which was full of funny antics, mainly involving Smee being hit by a plank of wood or an electric eel, but also crabs mistakenly tossed into the audience by Dr Ranj and fish falling off their fishing line! 

Of course there was the usual target aimed at a male audience member sitting in the front row and this time it was Sean who was an absolute trooper and played along with the gags thrown at him by Smee.

He played the kazoo during a song with Smee and delighted the audience by playing Southampton Football Club’s anthem, ‘When the Saints Come Marching in’.

Max Fulham brought the house down by putting on a high voice for Sean which continued when he was returning to his dangerous front row seat. 

In addition, there were the usual rivalry digs at local towns. When Smee called out, “What should we do with her?” referring to Captain Hook, a young boy called out, “Kill her!” Smee replied, “Worryingly that voice is clearly a child’s, who is probably from Portsmouth!” 

Alexandra Burke brought the glamour and sophistication to the stage and looked beautiful as a very sultry Captain Hook. She showed her fun side at various times throughout the show and wowed the audience with her sensational singing voice.

Her rendition of ‘Hallejuhah’, a throw back to her winning The X Factor in 2008, was full of emotion as well as her performance of, ‘I Will Always Love You’ from the musical, ‘The Bodyguard’, which she starred in several years ago touring the UK and Ireland. 

Supporting the cast was the incredible acrobatic group, The Acromaniacs. Their slapstick act was flawless and incredibly funny and they really added a high energy vibe to the show. 

I must also mention the fabulous dancers who were outstanding and adapted to representing different characters brilliantly, including pirates, fish creatures and fairies.

The costumes were lavish and colourful and the fairy costumes including Tink’s had a Kawaii style about them due to the pastel pink and blue shades, stripy tights, petticoats and frills. I did think the frills on the male dancers’ shorts looked out of place, but the dancers threw themselves into their dancing with great aplomb and professionalism. 

Surprises included the huge animatronic crocodile which lurched slowly towards the audience, showers of silver confetti and getting soaked by Smee using a fire extinguisher! 

Bright and bold sets plus atmospheric lighting added to the overall effect of the show. 

The only element I thought that was missing was a Dame, playing Smee’s mother as this would have added even more comedy and I do love a panto Dame but if this grey, damp weather is getting you down, grab a ticket and escape to Neverland for a couple of hours of escapism!