Dick Whittington

Dick Whittington was written by Liz Carroll and adapted for the radio and directed by Stephen Bibby.   The panto got off to a lively start with an energetic rendition of “It’s a hap, hap, happy day” sung by the chorus. We were then introduced to the cast, led by Joe Williams as Dick and Caroline Martin as Tom the Cat.  Dick’s mother, Dame Whittington was Peter Chiverton – and they were facing financial problems.  Dick decides to go to London to seek his fortune and discovers the streets are not paved with gold.     

The action moves from Truro to London and the narrator, Fairy Bowbells, lets us know what’s going on as it being radio, we can’t see the scene changes.  However, we knew when they were walking to London (crunching sounds), when something evil was going to happen (doom laden music) and when they arrived in London to find work, the creaking door that was opened by Dick’s future employer and love interest Alice Fitzwarren. 

As the story unfolded and characters were introduced, all the familiar panto contents were there such as the awful jokes “she’s in distress” “no she’s not in a dress” and references to caterwauling and catastrophe with a nod to Tom the Cat.  We even had a “Oh yes I will” and “Oh no you won’t” as there was a tussle for the keys all done to lively music for the tango. When disaster struck, there was ominous music and all through the panto, the music played an enormous part in setting the scene and establishing the atmosphere.  

This panto beautifully captured the spirit of panto in an evening of warmth and great entertainment using a large cast in a variety of roles as well as Dick, the Cat and the Dame we had Sadie Reeves who was super-sweet as Alice and Clive Solomons as her over-protective and somewhat naïve father, James Fitzwarren.  Alan Birdworth seemed in his element as the baddie, King Rat and Jill Gillett had fun as his sidekick, the cook. Brian Gillett was suitably smarmy as the Sultan. The level of energy never dropped and all the cast gave 100 per cent to this hugely enjoyable and fun production.

The music and sound effects were exceptional. The cast were well supported by the musical director Tony Oliver. Silchester Players deserves enormous credit for preparing this pantomime for radio.  They have been performing an annual panto since 1976 and their productions usually contain colourful principals, singing and dancing, elaborate costumes and special effects.  Although not a visual feast this year, there was enormous enjoyment to be had from this radio production which was recorded as part of the Christmas festivities on Basingstoke’s community radio, HHCR. The auditions were conducted by zoom, the cast never met and recordings were done remotely.  All social distancing and Government guidelines were met.  Silchester Players can be proud to add this production of Dick Whittington to their list of great achievements.

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