A quick vaccine passport check (our first one), a socially distanced coffee, and an announcement from the captain that it was time for ‘all aboard’ saw us venturing into The MAC once again to catch their Christmas show ‘The Untold Truth Of Captain Hook’.

Even A Villain Can Be the Hero of His Own Tale. Lost Boys, shipwrecks, mermaids, crocodiles, and pirates. You may know the facts, but do you really know the truth?

Join us for an epic, theatrical adventure through the time before Neverland, exploring how the best of brothers can become the worst of enemies, in this family show packed with excitement and charm.

The stage is set up as a wooden pirate ship adorned with clocks on every available surface and over the next 1hr 10mins, the cast of just 4 takes us through the tale of 2 brothers and their journey to the elusive Captain Hook.

Our narrator for the tale introduces the characters sets the scene and joins us on the Journey. I must admit the story had me guessing for far longer than it should have about where it was all going!

The show itself is fun, fast, and filled with danger, fights, and adventure. We took our 2 boys – Alex and Max – who at 6 and 7 years old are the target age for this show, and they both sat glued to the action, shouting along, and having an absolute whale of a time.

The whole show really comes together in the third act and is a credit to the set-builders, lighting, sound, and all the behind scenes people that make the whole show seem so effortless whilst still eliciting such a response from the kids, and adults alike. Keeping kids sitting still for over an hour is no mean feat!

Also worth noting is that being back in The MAC as a family we all agreed we felt safe and secure with the covid provisions they have taken, which makes easing back into social life that good bit easier.

As we left the theatre I asked the boys what they had thought of the show, they both replied with ‘Good’ and a thumbs up and I think that is probably a more useful recommendation than anything that I have written here!

‘The Untold Truth Of Captain Hook’ is on at The MAC until the 1st of January, tickets and more info can be found here .

Chris Caldwell

Author: Chris Caldwell

Chris Caldwell at your service! My favourite things are eating and Theatre, I have 2 small sons called Alex and Max who are more mustard than Hellmann's. I spend my days trying to wrangle them and exploring my favourite city - BELFAST! My favourite films are horror, my fav music is metal and my favourite Beatle is Ringo, mainly his work on Thomas the Tank.