PANTO bosses are promising a spectacular show with Peter Pan flying in for good measure.

Since 2017, a major pantomime has been staged in a purpose-built temporary venue inside the Hilton Metropole on Brighton Seafront.

And this year’s show will be their biggest year yet.

David Hill, from the production company, said: “It’s a very traditional family panto.

“Peter Pan is always a fun one to stage. This year we’ve got large-scale production, special effects, glamorous costumes and plenty of comedy content.”

“We realised that Brighton was the only major city in the UK without a main commercial pantomime since Theatre Royal decided to forego its one,” said David.

This has turned out to be both a positive and a negative for David and co.

“It’s a positive in that it means we have no major competition but a negative in that it takes the city’s main theatre space.”

David’s production company creates an 832-seater venue inside the Hilton Metropole for the panto.

The scale of the production is increasing every year and this year’s temporary stage has to be deeper to include room for the flying rig.

They then take the whole thing down before the year ends.

“We go in and de-rig the set on December 30, and then on December 31st we install an entirely new layout for the Hilton’s New Year’s Eve Dinner.”

Such ingenuity has seen David’s production company nominated for a Sussex Business Award in the Innovation category.

“We wanted to put on a traditional panto with a modern twist,” he said.“Brighton is a very discerning city, it’s got two universities and a great arts scene.

“So we realised that unless you’ve got a legitimately major star then it’s better to go for credibility. You don’t need to have a reality TV star just so people recognise a name. Instead you can go for very good, very qualified actors.”

“We’ve had people say to us after shows that they’ve never heard singing like that in panto.

“This year we’ve got a full live band and even live animals. A 55kg Burmese mountain dog plays Nana.”

Peter Pan will be performed at Brighton Metropole from December 19 to 29, except for Christmas Day.

  • The Peter Pan pantomime is offering an exclusive discount to Argus readers. Readers can head to brightonfamilypanto.com and click on “book your tickets”. Enter the code Argus40 to get 40 per cent off your ticket on selected shows.