Review & Top Tips | Theatre Royal Newcastle Panto 2021

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Theatre Royal Newcastle Panto | Overview & tickets

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs will start it's run at Newcastle Theatre Royal for 7 weeks from 23 November 2021 - 9 January 2022. 

Newcastle favourites Danny and Clive are always super popular with many people snapping up tickets as soon as they're released year after year.

Tickets are available from £14.50 and although it can be one of the more expensive pantomimes in the North East, I think is reflected in the production quality.

You can find out more and book online here

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs will mark Danny and Clives 16th consecutive panto at the Theatre Royal and audiences can expect an action-packed show bursting with magic, music and of course plenty of mayhem.

As well as Danny and Clive, the cast for this year's panto includes popular X-Factor star Joe McElderry as the Man in the Mirror, Chris Hayward as Queen Dragonella, Mick Potts and musical theatre star Carole Stennett as the Spirit of the Pantomime. Steve Arnott will play Mrs Nelly Nightnurse, Wayne Smith is the Prince and Kirsty Ingram plays Snow White. What a cast! 

As ever, the show promises epic sets, lots of fun, laughter and surprises as well as spectacular choreography, breathtaking special effects, wonderful music and plenty of slapstick. 

Theatre Royal Newcastle Panto | Where to park & public transport

I always find parking in Newcastle City Centre at this time of year to be pretty tricky as traffic can be bad and it's always super busy.

Our go-to place is Eldon Square Car Park which like a lot of car parks in Newcastle is free after 5pm. It does close at 10pm (earlier on a Sunday) though which sometimes means that getting there after panto can be a bit of a rush.

There are sometimes spaces available on Grey Street right outside of the theatre and other car parks in Newcastle too. I much prefer to use public transport and on this occasion and catching the bus/metro/train into town works out a lot easier. You can find out more about parking (including disabled parking) here. 

Remember, if you have tickets to watch a show at Theatre Royal, you can travel for free by Metro. Find out more here. 

Theatre Royal Newcastle Panto | Where to eat

I've written a full post with suggestions of where to dine before a trip to the Theatre Royal - check out my suggestions here.

The Fat Hippo Underground is our go-to place. The service is always so quick here, the food hits the spot and the kids love it. Burger and fries plus 2 shakes and 2 soft drinks for the five of us is usually just short of £45.

Recently, we visited Pizza Punks and very much enjoyed our meal. It is ideally located just along from the theatre on Grey Street. All pizzas are a set price of £11 and you can choose unlimited toppings which can lead to some interesting combos! There is a reduced offering for kids for £7 too. 

Lots of people rave about Pani's which is a family-friendly Italian restaurant close to the theatre and there are quite a few options in Eldon Square's Grey Quarter too and family-friendly Nandos is just around the corner. You are spoilt for choice really. 

 

Theatre Royal Newcastle Panto | 2021 Review 

Thank you to Anna for providing this review: 

As pantomimes go, Newcastle Theatre Royal’s pantomime has long been considered by many to be the crème de la crème of the North East offering. 

After a shutdown of performance venues across the country last year, the long standing line up of Danny Adams, Clive Webb, Chris Hayward, Mick Potts and Steve Arnott are back in this year’s offering, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, joined by Joe McElderry and Carole Stennett.  For a family of four, tickets to the Theatre Royal’s pantomime aren’t cheap, but is it worth the outlay?  

The first thing you notice as you step inside the auditorium is the sense of occasion. Beth (9) and Kitty (5) have never been there, and were really wowed by the splendour of the building. 

Unlike other theatres, it’s not faded grandeur, it’s the real deal and still looks stunning nearly 10 years on from its restoration. As soon as they stepped inside they could tell they were in for a treat and their excitement mounted. 

Nobody needs an overview of the story of Snow White and after a welcome from West End songstress Carole Stennett as The Spirit of Pantomime plus the arrival on a train of the Seven Dwarfs, we’re greeted like old friends by Danny (Danny, the court jester) and Clive (Oddjob) who are clearly relishing being back in their ‘home’ after a year’s absence. 

Playing servants in the court of Queen Dragonella (Chris Hayward, more on him later), the pair are friends to Kirsty Ingram’s Snow White and Wayne Smith’s Prince William of Wallsend, the latter of whom is making his fifth appearance in the theatre’s show and who endeared himself to the crowd throughout while Danny Adams did his best to make him laugh and break out of character. There was a real joyous warmth in Smith’s performance.

Danny and Clive have such a rapport that even when they made mistakes - or appear to, you’re never quite certain what really was an ‘accidduuuurnt’ and what wasn’t – they have the audiences howling with laughter. Throughout the show they make their physical routines look easy and they’re clearly anything but.

Having an auditorium filled with people who’ve grown up with them and get the ‘in’ jokes clearly helps, but they remain on fine form. Filled with slapstick and downright silliness the kids roared with laughter every time they came onstage. 

Joining them this year was 2009’s X-Factor winner, South Shields’s Joe McElderry. McElderry’s appearance as The Man in the Mirror serves to demonstrate both his and Adams’s generosity as performers.  McElderry is content to be both sidelined by Adams as the star and also be the butt of his jokes throughout the show and he is clearly absolutely thrilled to be a part of it.


Adams meanwhile, makes way for McElderry’s big musical numbers and allows him to shine in the sparkly boots he was brought in to fill.  The camaraderie between the two is most evident in Act One when an innuendo-filled sketch involving Elvis, a dozen or more lines from a variety of pop songs and ‘Joseph’ has both me and my husband howling and McElderry struggling to keep it together.  It was brilliant.

Two other Theatre Royal panto regulars, Chris Hayward and Steve Arnott have swapped roles this year, with Hayward’s Dame Rita (no ‘hiya hinnies’ this year) shelved for him taking the role as panto baddie, Queen Dragonella. Arnott, meanwhile, swapped his bad guy clothing for a stint as a dame. While both gave great performances, personally I think a lack of Dame Rita this year was a big miss. 

Hayward and Arnott should also be highly commended for their other contributions to the show; Arnott as an award-winning scenic artist responsible for the painting of the sets, while Hayward’s production of his own costumes and wigs set an incredibly high standard, filled with all the glamour, sparkle and excessive use of sequins you would expect a pantomime queen to have. 

Credit must go to the combined efforts of the teams under Ben Cracknell, Ian Westbrook, Olly Steel and The Twins FX for their lighting, set design, sound design and special effects.  You get what you pay for and it’s here that the Theatre Royal’s panto sets itself apart from the rest in the region – the production values are second to none.

My last specific mention goes to Mick Potts as The Idiot. It’s all credit to a man who has absolutely no lines in the performance that he stole the show every time he walked on stage and it’s a real shame that his talents are under-utilised. I really hope he is given more stage time in future years. 

All in all it was a great night.  If you’re looking for a cheap night out this isn’t it, but you get what you pay for and if you’re looking for a memorable Christmas treat with the highest of production and performance standards with all the razzle and dazzle you can shake a bottle of festive fizz at then you won’t find a better one.

Need to Know: 

• Running Time: Approximately 2 hours 10 minutes including interval 
• Show contains strobe lighting 
• Access information is available here 
• This is a family show with bangs, flashes, a couple of scary moments, panto innuendo (never intended to offend) and some very old jokes 
• You can read about COVID protocols and measures in place here 
• Audio and captioned performance 7 December at 7pm 
• BSL performance 9 December 9pm 
• The theatre is card only, you can read about the bar and snacks available here