There is nothing I love more than a pre Christmas trip to the panto to get me feeling festive. This was our first Christmas panto since the move and I could not wait to see what the show had in store for us. When we arrived the Pavilion Theatre was absolutely buzzing with the excited chatter of children and their families, with the show still early in it’s release it was a full audience.

As with most pantomimes the story of Aladdin came secondary to the hilarious one liners and audience participation, I think the balance of story telling, singing and laughs worked really well in this performance. The undoubted stars of the show were David Ball as Widow Twanky and the hilarious Noel Brodie as Wishee Washee, their energy throughout the whole performance was amazing and they kept the children laughing all the way through with plenty of adult humour thrown in for good measure. The audience were up on their feet and singing along a number of times. With the show being quite new to the Pavilion there were still a few teething issues however these were dealt with seamlessly and the ad libbing from the characters made the show even more entertaining.

Eastenders star Richard Blackwood played the villain faultlessly and the clever use of lighting meant that he was portrayed as a baddie without terrifying the children. X Factors Amelia Lily was brilliant as the Spirit of the Ring, her powerful voice had the children captivated whenever she spoke or sang, a true star!

On a whole the show provides a great couple of hours of entertainment for all of the family. We left the show feeling festive and with the children singing songs from the show. There were a few moments where I felt that the adult banter and innuendos were a bit much for such a young audience and could have been toned down slightly in places. I also found an Ed Sheeran number between Aladdin and Jasmine a bit of an odd choice due to it’s raunchy wording, when the song first began I thought they would be changing the wording however this was not the case and bar a few lines of the song, most of the lyrics were not really fitting. Regardless we had a great time, the children were entertained throughout and a great night was had by all.

If you are looking for some family fun over the festive period you can catch Aladdin at the Bournemouth Pavilion until 5th January 2020. Tickets are available to purchase Online, from the box office or by phone.

We were kindly gifted tickets to see the show however all words and opinions are of my own. Images provided by BH Live.