20 Years of Danny and Clive at the Theatre Royal

29 November 2025
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Three words can easily describe it: VERY VERY FUNNY! The Theatre Royal panto is always an absolute triumph and a wonderful family tradition. This year is a celebration of 20 years that comedy duo Danny and Clive have been bringing us huge amounts of joy. Think I first went in 2007 and it just gets better every year.

The opening scene is tremendous (don’t be late) and from the very first second we were laughing, as it opened with such a bang that Granny got a fright and tipped her (thankfully white) wine all over her cream jumper!! The wonderful Joe McElderry takes the audience on a trip through 20 years of panto fun (in about 5 minutes) featuring all the goodies and baddies from “pantomania”. Where on earth have they been storing the crocodile from Peter Pan?

What I like most about the Theatre Royal panto is that it is full of random comedy scenes and is only loosely based on whatever the main story is. This year is a real mix up as Aladdin’s mum is Mother Goose, the princesses dad is Old King Cole, the Wicked Witch of Wallsend is the real baddy. Mick the Genie of the Lamp is as funny as ever without saying a word and Priscilla the Goose is just fabulous.

The banter between Danny and Joe is always hilarious. The gags come thick and fast throughout with some incredibly witty digs at well known folk. I love the humour all the way through and it all gets VERY VERY silly! Granny was in kinks at the daft antics and costumes that poor Aladdin has to wear…The classic “If I were not in pantomime” song was completely crazy and as for the wizards song… I can’t even remember what it was as I was too busy crying with laughter!

The exceptional staging, special effects, costumes, music, singing and dancing we have all come to expect and Aladdin does not disappoint. It’s an outstanding show and the Magical Carpet Ride had the children in absolute awe!