Robinson Crusoe and The Pirates: traditional family show does not disappoint - review

Robinson Crusoe and The Pirates was a great traditional family show with humour for the adults as well as the children, in fact some jokes even made me laugh and I thought I’d heard them all!

Apart from some first night nerves, which is understandable, the show opened with what seemed to be the whole cast on stage - bright and colourful and soon got under way at great pace.

All the chorus and dancers are given pirate names - Marcy Cooper, aged seven, shone through for me showing no sign of nerves!

All the principals were strong and gave fine performances, however, special mention must be given to Coral, Spirit of The Seas (Alice Bowden) very bright and cheery, Poll (Isabel Fletcher-Shaw) her parrot was amazing and finally Nutty Nick (Stewart Bowden) who stole the show for me, great timing, movement and humour. He gave a better performance than a lot of professionals I’ve seen.

Well done to director Rob Brittles, choreographer Cathryn Yates and musical director Tim Walker who managed to produce a great pantomime between them, which is never easy when there is limited time and budget to put an amateur show on.

Oh – and the three numbers from The Greatest Showman - spot on!

Message to cast: you have a great show there, just go out and give it your all and enjoy yourselves.

• Performances of Robinson Crusoe and The Pirates at The Art Theatre, New Mills, continue on Friday February 8 at 7.15pm and Saturday February 9 at 2.15pm and 7.15pm.

Tickets are priced £10 for adults, £8 for under-16s and £50 for a box seating five people.

They are available online at www.ticketsource.co.uk/arttheatrepantomime (booking fees apply), or from A Allen & Son, 45 Union Road, New Mills.

They can also be purchased from the box office - for opening times, group bookings, etc, call 07983 344 862 or email [email protected].