High-fliers set to take city by storm
Take swashbuckling sword fights, a boy who can fly, lashings of jokes and a liberal sprinkling of fairy dust and what do you get? That’s right, it’s pantomime time and Peter Pan promises to be HM Theatre’s biggest festive feast yet, writes Caroline Brodie
Published:
WHAT more could an audience ask for? Alan Fletcher, better known as Neighbours’ favourite Dr Karl Kennedy, as the biggest villain of them all; Any Dream Will Do star Keith Jack as the boy who never grew up; the perennially popular Alan McHugh as the Dame, and Jordan Young, the star of last year’s record-breaking panto, Aladdin, as Smee.
It’s quite a line-up and theatre bosses are confidently billing it Aberdeen’s biggest-ever panto.
Alan Fletcher, who arrived in the city last week to shiver your timbers as arch-villain Captain Hook, agreed it was gearing up to be a magical show.
The Australian soap star said: “The theatre has gone to enormous expense to make sure Peter can fly in a very special way and I think young people will be totally spellbound by it.
“It is not just a show where people come along and laugh. It is a show that younger children will find quite magical.
“It also has beautiful original music and some fantastic singers.
“J.M. Barrie’s original play was quite dark and it is about keeping true to that while making it fun which is important.”
Alan, who has been a major player in Neighbours for the past 14 years, said he was having no problems casting off his respectable image as doctor, father and all-round good guy to play fiendish buccaneer Captain Hook, having already turned villain in five pantos to date, including as Hook in Sheffield eight years ago.
He said: “I’ve always played a villain in pantomime and I much prefer it to playing a goodie. I like it when the audience boo at me.
“Captain Hook, aside from being obviously very mean and nasty, is a total egomaniac.
“He has a very heavily inflated view of himself and is very into the way he looks; he’s always preening himself.
“He is the complete opposite of Peter Pan, making him the perfect foil for the comic to make fun of.
“I’m going to have great fun playing him. He is really quite preposterous.”
It is not the first time a star of the famous Aussie soap has trodden the boards as the HMT panto baddie, with Stefan Dennis proving a huge hit as evil Abanazaar in the acclaimed Aladdin last year.
Asked why he had taken on the role in the Granite City show, his 51-year-old co-star Alan said: “The first thing was the show itself. I was going to do Aladdin in Sheffield, but I really wanted to do Peter Pan again. It is an amazing show and the kids always love it.
“The other reason was that Stefan Dennis and Dan O’Connor, from Neighbours, had both done panto here before and said it was a wonderful theatre and a great crew, so I thought let’s give it a try.
“I’d been to Scotland before, but I had never made it farther north than St Andrews, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to come a bit farther. It is a beautiful country.”
Speaking about the production, he said: “The script is written by Alan McHugh, who plays the Dame, and I had never seen Peter Pan with a Dame in it, so that’s a very novel approach.
“Being from this part of the world, Alan has used the Doric language fairly prominently and I think that will go down very well with the north-east audience.
“He has made it exceptionally funny.”
Alan, who is married to Australian newsreader Jennifer Hansen, admitted it would be hard to be away from home at this time of the year, but said his wife had joined him during his first week in Aberdeen, and that children Tom and Veronica were planning a visit on December 28.
He added: “I’m having Christmas on my own here, but I’m sure we, the Panto cast, will find something fun to do on Christmas Day.”
The actor, who is also lead singer and guitarist in his band, Waiting Room, which has toured the UK several times, is also looking forward to taking the stage at Aberdeen Club Moshulu from 10.30pm on December 10, where he will treat clubgoers to an acoustic set.
He admitted he was enjoying his time in the city, saying: “I’m having a marvellous time.
“I’ve been out and about doing my shopping and people love to stop and say hello and get an autograph.
“It has a real village feel to it and a sense of community and I’ve had the best response.”
Rehearsals have been in full swing for the past week and Alan said he was very pleased with the way things were going.
“There’s a rush to get everything ready, but Alan Cohen is a very established director and he is a bit of a master of this style of theatre and, as a result, he is very relaxed about everything and runs a very tight ship.”
Asked if he was ready for opening night, Alan admitted he still had some lines to brush up on, and added: “I’ve also got this sword fight I still have not got right. It’s with big, heavy swords, so that’s quite a challenge. But I’m sure everything will be perfect by Saturday.”
Demand for tickets has been so high that theatre bosses have decided, for the first time in years, to sell £10 tickets for the balcony, also known as the gods.
A spokeswoman for Aberdeen Performing Arts said: “The seats are probably not suitable for very young children, but will give a parrots-eye view of the action and a close look at the show’s amazing flying sequences.”
It is hoped the extra seats – several hundred for each performance – will help meet demand.
Peter Pan will be at HMT from Saturday until January 4 with matinee and evening performances. More information and tickets are available online at www.boxofficeaberdeen.com or by phoning 01224 641122.
Readers' Comments