Curtains open on Telford Peter Pan panto

Oakengates Theatre in Telford staged its first performances of the hit production to schoolchildren yesterday.

And the show, which has been dubbed as the town's biggest ever panto, is set to open to the general public tommorrow night.

Tickets have been selling out fast for the 50 performances – even faster than last year's production of Sleeping Beauty.

Thomas J Redgrave, of Britain’s Got Talent’s winning boy band Collabro, stars as Peter Pan while Jonas Cemm is Captain Hook and Mrs Smee is played by Steve Boyce.

The show, which is staged by Shone Productions, also stars comedy actor Adam Kelly as Mr Smee, singer Charlotte Griffiths as Tiger Lily, Georgina Newton as Tinkerbell and Rebecca Seyhan as Wendy.

Theatre manager, Debbie King was delighted with how the first shows went.

"It was excellent we had a full house for the first show," she said. "Everything went really well and the children were tremendously loud.

"The cast get all their lines in September but only really come together a couple of weeks before.

"It's amazing what can be done in such a short space of time – I don't know how they do it.

"There are 50 shows in total and we're currently well up on ticket sales from this time last year.

"The show brings schools in from not only Telford but other areas. A lot of the time it's the first time they've experienced live theatre and pantomime, which is great."

Oakengates Theatre also offers a special relaxed performance of Peter Pan, without the big bangs and flashing lights.

It is for people who might not usually go to a standard production show.

Producer James Shone, who runs Liverpool-based Shone Productions, said: "We've produced pantomime for quite a few years now and last year was our first in Telford – now we're back again with Peter Pan.

"The show opened for the schools yesterday and we had great reviews from all the schools.

"It takes time to put it all together, as soon as this one finishes I'll start with the next. For me panto is all year round, we start casting in January.

"Peter Pan is the most popular pantomime and also one of the biggest and this is the biggest panto we've ever seen in Telford. There really is something for everybody."

Peter Pan is on from December 6 to 31 at The Place, Oakengates.

Tickets start from just £10 and family tickets are also available.

For more information call the box office on 01952 382382 or go to theplacetelford.com