Families are invited to fly across the sea to Neverland as a Great Yarmouth theatre stages its first full-scale family pantomime since Covid.

All audiences have to do is believe that St George's Theatre's balconies are part of the Jolly Roger to play their part in Peter Pan which is promising spectacular effects and swashbuckling adventure.

The show sees writer Nick Earnshaw in his dream role as baddie pirate Captain Hook, as well as casting some theatre favourites in the classic tale.

He said: “I love the story of Peter Pan – particularly the original script by J M Barrie where Hook is well-educated and uses a lot of Latin to try to control the people of Neverland – which sounds a bit familiar and topical.

“The original book also added the pirates in as an afterthought to enable a scene change – then Barrie realised how much he liked them and developed their roles.

“I have seen a lot of Hooks in my youth, including Brian Blessed, and in this version I want to show that even though he wants everyone else to grow up, he is a biggest baby of them all.”

His comedy sidekick Smee will be high energy north Norfolk actor Ollie Westlake. Peter is played by Charlie Randall, a favourite with St George’s audiences, and Wendy by newly-graduated Alice Francis, while Tinkerbelle is singer and dance coach Alex Mellor.

And there is Bruno the hungry crocodile, created by Axtell Puppets.

It also sees the return of a community cast for the first time since Covid with local youngsters playing Wendy’s brothers and the Lost Boys.

Peter Pan is billed as "a fun, interactive, swashbuckling show, where the audience help defeat the pirates, with some special effects flyover action, and a chorus of other crocodiles."

It is repeating its successful streaming to primary schools, set up in Covid in partnership with the Norfolk Music Hub, which saw last year’s panto reach 350,000 youngsters nationwide.

Peter Pan runs at St George’s from December 10 to 31.

For tickets and information visit www.stgeorgestheatre.com or call the box office on 01493 331484.

Tickets are £8, £10 and £30 a family.