Visit To The Panto

10 January - AQSC's Annual Visit To The Panto

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without a Panto. This year's was Peter Pan at the New Victoria Theatre in Woking. A reduced number of Aquarius 'panto groupies' turned up including George & Joan, Pete & Diana, Eiko & Graham and Lyn & I. Nigel & Anne were away skiing, which I guess is the next best thing and Leo & Anne went down with a bug and couldn't make it.

There seem to be a lot of Australian & American soap stars moonlighting in our panto's over the last few years and this year was no exception with Henry Winkler 'The Fonz' from Happy Days playing Captain Hook. There can't be a person alive that doesn't know the story of Peter Pan, so I'll skip that. The cast also included Clare Buckley (Holby City & Dancing on Ice) as Peter Pan and Andy Collins (BBC1 Garden SOS & Family Fortunes) as Smee.

I thought the show was a little tired with no one strong, usually comedy character, to carry it. Winkler relied heavily on his 'Happy Days' acting and, at times, had trouble handling the boisterous comments from the younger audience. The staging was very good with all the usual flying effects. The use of computer projected images to enhance the flying sequences during the flight to Never-Never Land was especially good.

Not a bad show with plenty of audience participation, loud music and colour. I'm glad to say that a very British Christmas institution appears to be alive and well. We shall certainly be along next year for our annual Panto fix.

Mike (He's behind you) Baker