As an experienced panto-goer I can say that the negative reader reviews are nonsense and are probably the work of rivals, uncast auditionees, or just bitter people. This panto was creative, entertaining and I enjoyed every minute. In fact, if my diary had not been full, I would have gone again! - Dave Smith
10 Feb 12
So... disappointing. The jokes went completely over the children's heads and were not at all funny for us adults either, and at times were unnecessarily too close to the wire. Mother Goose herself was dire, in fact brought the show to it's knees. The best performers were the local young people, they were certainly the only ones that put any real energy and passion into their performances. Come on Play house Panto is meant to be fun, Let's have something better next year. I agree wholeheartedly with all of the above comments and I too heard many members of the audience complaining. ` - You Can Be...
08 Jan 12
I can't quite fathom how professional reviews gave this show a positive rating. What is Peter Duncan on? A script entirely lacking in plot and jokes, and utterly confusing for most children to follow, I imagine. So little about this show worked. Even the 'audience participation' was atrociously handled, with none of the shout-backs properly set up, leading to a very muted audience response throughout. And as for the good and bad fairies: no-one in our party of 7 could entirely see the point of them in this totally lacklustre production. But OP can do so much better! I was so impressed with last year's excellent production of Cinderella. I fear, however, that Mr Duncan at the very least needs a strict script editor, or perhaps should only focus on the direction? I'm sorry to say, but this was the worst OP panto I've seen in the last 5 years (and I've seen them all). Come on Michelle Dickson - must do better next Christmas! - MartinofHeadington
02 Jan 12
The local amateur panto in the village hall was better than this. Weak story, two good actors- but all the rest of the cast was weak. A poor script with very little humour to appeal to any one over the age of 7. I came out of the Mother Goose feeling very disappointed, and wished that I had spent £132 for 7 tickets on any thing else but this pathetic panto. - Toni Macaroni
30 Dec 11
Very disapointing panto this year of Mother Goose. I like pantos without overpaid soap stars but this year Peter Duncan's MG has lost the plot. Or rather there isn't one. Mother Goose herself/himself was dull and had no animation or fun. Putting songs in that were popular in 2011 but bear no resemblance to the story is pointless:"rolling in the deep"?? And there was little slapstick and fun. The duke of Kidlington was the only quality actor and he wasn't on the stage enough. the end of show singalong with the geordie bit was hopeless for kids (my dad's a geordie so I get the phrases better than most but it was not funny.) Seats for this panto are too expensive to be so badly cast and played. Many people were saying in the interval it wasn't as good as previous years. Come on buck up and do better in 2012 . - jumpingjules
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