Dick Whittington

This year’s pantomime at Ovingham was a couple of weeks earlier than last year but still the last panto in my “Christmas season”!  As ever, The Reading Room was full for this performance from Ovingham Drama Group.  I always enjoy my visits to Ovingham.  It always seems like a real village occasion.  I gather most of the performers have been with the company since it began so they are, shall we say, grown-ups.  The audience has a smattering of children but, otherwise, they are also grown-ups!  So this was a panto for an audience mainly mature, but nonetheless ready and willing to shout out all the required responses to the performers.  As always, the cast were taking no prisoners.  They hit the stage running and rode roughshod over the submissive audience, who all had a thoroughly enjoyable time.

Dick Whittington was an Alan Frayn pantomime telling the well-worn tale of Dick and his cat en route to London – with a few exotic twists involving TT Arvind as The Sultan of Morocco!  Peter Pescod, as Captain Cuttlefish, was quite overwhelming!  He makes me bubble with mirth just making an entrance. When he adds a bit of acting, singing and dancing, I’m a gonner.  Malcolm Lowerson was a suitably evil King Rat.  The audience were very happy to boo and hiss him – and warn other characters of his nefarious plans.  Lorraine White was a fine, traditional Principal Boy, in the leading part of Dick who, with Brenda Parker as her cat Scupper, has to negotiate the perils that beset him/her/them.  Liz Lake made a sweet Fairy Bowbells who occasionally popped in to remind the audience what was going on.  The programme warned of occasional puffs of smoke and explosions at the front of the stage which took us all by surprise because, of course, we had not read our programmes when the first one went off.

There was no Musical Director this year.  The songs mainly consisted of very short clips from very well known popular songs.  There were occasional moments of silence as the performers waited for the tape to catch up with them but nothing’s perfect.  However, perfection is not what we really expect at Ovingham.  What we expect is an all-embracing sense of fun, which tumbles over the footlights and embraces the entire audience.  Every audience member, young or old, left the Reading Room with a smile on his or her face.

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