Dick Whittington

A play produced in 1606 which tells the tale of Richard Whittington an English merchant, politician and three times Mayor of London, it describes his rise from poverty stricken childhood and how he made his fortune through the sale of his cat to a rat infested London. Since the pre Victorian era the story has been a favourite subject of English pantomime and therefore I was not surprised that Spennymoor Stage and Song chose this pantomime by Stephen Duckham to celebrate their pantomime season. Director Eric Hickson supported by Karen Butler took this traditional story and turn into a family action packed pantomime and what a sterling job they did both in terms of its production and entertainment. Special mention must also go to Eric for his creative stage design, Eric has a rare talent and flare when it comes to creating the set especially his artistic and imaginative painting of the cloths which would look at home in any west end production. Choreography was in the capable hands of Ann Marie Clayton supported by Stacy Jackson as the dance captain, they produced some lovely dance movement which complemented the production. The resident musical director Martyn Jones took the baton with his talented town band Jackie Adamson and David Young to bring the musical element to the production and what a good choice of music was chosen to complement this production. Special mention to the technical and production team who provided the specialised element to this production, David Jackson as stage manager who ensured the smooth movement of scenery and enabled the cast to perform without any awkward pauses in the production, Susan Marley and Susan Rogers for their imaginative and inventive design in the wardrobe department and I loved the range of costumes especially Ratface and Fairy Bow Bells costumes which looked fantastic and finally the front of house staff who work tirelessly to make every single member of the audience feel at home and greeted with courtesy and politeness as they always do. 

The story unfolded with the whole chorus delivering the musical number “Maybe It’s Because Im A Londoner” before the audience was taken on a wonderful journey were we met an array of interesting characters, Fairy Bow-Bells was beautifully played by the talented Ann- Marie Clayton outstanding performance as always loved the costume and she certainly smashed her musical number supported by the chorus “Blame It On The Boogie”, there is always an evil character in pantomime and in this case George Morgan- Watson played the despicable and evil Ratface, king of the Rats and what a frightening performance he delivered, well done George I loved your interpretation of this character and for me the stand out performance of the show, Eve Angstmann delivered a solid performance as Dick Whittington, lovely stage presence and confident vocals I particularly enjoyed her interpretation of “ No Matter What” and  I loved her duets “Thousand Years” and “Right Here Waiting For You” with Alice who was confidently played by Jayne Etherington again another confident performance and lovely interaction  with the other cast members, lively solo musical number “I Wont Last The Day” which was beautifully delivered, playing her father Alderman Fitzwarren was Michael Coulson who is no stranger to the stage, great chemistry with all the principals and townspeople and he delivered his musical numbers  with assurance and confidence. Playing the part of the panto dame was Ian Patterson as Sarah Suet , great characterisation and stage presence he had a natural interaction with the audience, lovely range of costumes and I enjoyed his musical numbers “Tragedy”, playing the part of Idle Jack was the talent Liam Etherington, Liam has an instinctive talent and stage presence and a natural ability to draw in the audience, great interaction with all of the other cast members and I loved his musical numbers “I Wanna Be Like You” and the panto sing along song the popular “Baby Shark”. Playing the part of Tommy the Cat was Darcy Snell and Molly Hall lovely interaction with Dick and some great characterisations and cat movements. I loved the sailing scene which introduced two great characters Captain Cod played by Rebekah Newman and Skate the Mate played by Abbie Newman both these young actresses brought some lovely comic moments to the show especially when the joined the other cast members with the musical numbers “We Go Together” and “Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny” and finally in the named parts were Christopher Jones as Wazir and Paul Simpson as the Sultan both of whom delivered some lovely scenes which were well performed. Congratulation to the townsfolk Alex Catterson, Alex Graham, Lucy Greathead, Molly Hall, Eric Hickson, Bethany Hitchen, Lilly McCrone, Susan Marley, Sophie Priestley, Jennifer Revell, Scarlett Revell, Jessica Riley, Susan Rogers, Dilian Sample, Rhys Sample, Darcy Snell, Ruby Symons, Skye Symons, Tia Symons and Stacy Thompson who did an amazing and spectacular job of bringing the magic to the stage and I loved the full ensemble numbers “Love Is In The Air”, “Marshmallow World” and  “Bon Voyage”. Well done to the whole cast and production team on yet another polished performance, can’t wait to see your production of Calamity Jane in April.

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