Dick Whittington

This was a lively telling of the old tale of Dick Whittington, with several jolly new twists. The rats, of course, were the villains, and King Rat a particularly scary one. Instead of Dick’s cat chasing away the rats in a far-off Eastern land, it solved the rat problem on a remote jam-making island! All the fun of the pantomime was here, from glorious costumes and makeup to silly songs, audience participation, and a sweet love story to boot. Particularly different here, though, was great use of cockney rhyming slang and superb cockney accents. The panto was written by Jenny Seddon, who played Dick Whittington. Evidently a lock-down project, it gave a huge amount of laughter and jolly fun to the people of Godalming.

The Ben Travers Theatre at Charterhouse School makes a fine, well-equipped venue for GTG’s annual panto, and includes a spacious bar.

Bob Good, Musical Director, provided a fine accompaniment to the proceedings with a 6-piece band. Phoebe Barrow, Choreographer, ensured good use was made of the stage in the zingy dance routines. The rats’ routines were especially good and scary. The cat, played by Phoebe herself, was surely the most elegant and cat-like creature that has ever adorned a stage!

Lighting and sound were very effective throughout. At times, however, the balance of sound meant that the band was somewhat too loud so that the lyrics of some of the songs could not be heard.  I went on the first night though, so I imagine this will have been adjusted in subsequent performances.

Costumes were, as always, very inventive. For example those for the citizens of London showed what the people were selling, for example flowers or fish. The rats’ costumes were very effective with black outfits criss-crossed with red tape, and outrageously scary wigs and makeup. Fairy Bow Bells, on the other hand, was beautiful with gorgeous pink gowns full of sparkles, a great headdress, very nice makeup, and so on.  Dick Whittington wore super high boots and a brown suede tunic, his cat was all black with excellent makeup and an impressive set of ears and a fine tail. Captain C Bass looked every inch the part, with an impressive hat and fine uniform. Mama Lade, the owner of the jam-making plant on the remote island, looked splendid in her 1950s bright yellow dress. But of course, in a panto, none is more finely attired than the Dame. Here Yvette, the Vet, appeared in ever more outrageous dresses and wigs, and the most delightfully alluring makeup!

There were some good sets, from the London Rattenham Court Road underground station, through Hampstead Heath looking down on London, to the London Docks, King Rat’s underground lair, the ship, and the jam-making island. The orchestra were placed behind a gauze, one could see them partly, but they were unobtrusive, a clever ruse. Props were many. I especially liked the Captain’s quarterdeck, which was on wheels. In London there were lots of fishes, many pets large and small at the vets, and does a beautiful real dog count as a prop? He was in the Dog Wash scene, so there was a kennel type construction, and many bottles producing bubbles all over Dick Whittington. Pots, pans, wooden spoons and aprons appeared for the Jam-making Island scene. There was lots going on!

The curtain opened to reveal the incredibly unpleasant looking King Rat, played perfectly with great menace by the normally charming Carol Gallacher (who is also responsible for the costumes).  My five-year-old co-reviewer snuggled up tight whenever she and her troop of nasty looking rats were on stage. Luckily though, our down-to-earth and beautiful Fairy Bow Bells (Denise Hodgkiss) appeared, to lighten everything up and entrance us with her cockney rhyming slang as she skilfully narrated the story.  The colourfully attired Idle Jack (Rob Richmond) appeared, together with Alice Fitzwarren (Cheryl Hacker), who he was sweet on. Alice was far too energetic and hardworking to fall for him, this was obvious even before handsome Dick Whittington came on the scene later.

Yvette, the vet, (this made for various corny jokes) swept onto the stage, berating her idle son. Peter Flew made the perfect Panto Dame. Alderman Fitzwarren, the efficient and strict business owner, was ably played by Brian Fraser, lots of goods were carted about and loaded into and out of his store. We had an excellent ‘Let’s All Go Down The Strand’ with plenty of large and small bananas in evidence.

Dick Whittington acquired an amazing cat, and made his way to London to seek his fortune. Jenny Seddon made a fine Dick Whittington, this enthusiastic, energetic, upright young man, who immediately impressed Alice Fitzwarren. Dick’s cat, however, was definitely the most impressive cat I’ve ever seen on stage. Phoebe Barrow was a constant delight to watch, her dancing was impeccable.

The scene at Yvette’s vets was lovely with all kinds of animals being brought in, including the sweetest huge, injured teddy bear, and a panto horse (or was it a cow?) too. This delighted the children. The dog wash scene was fun – even vets seem to need to think of new business ideas these days!

A jolly note was brought into the second half, with the arrival of Captain C Bass and his ship. He was played very comically by the excellent Joel Llufrio.

There was a marvellous rendering of the cumulative song ‘If I Were Not Upon The Sea’, with cast members doing all sorts of crazy actions and cleverly avoiding, just, knocking each other out. This involved the audience being pelted with yellow balls. Outrageous and hilarious!

The jam factory island was a comical idea, and Mama Lade (Becky Van Orden) made a marvellous yellow-clad entrepreneur, with her charming daughter, I believe, Honey (Charlotte Fishwick). Of course, all sorts of people paired off, we had a great communal singing event with ‘How Much Is That Doggie In The Window’, and the wedding scene was the Grand Finale.

This was a fine panto, well-directed by Ellie Cahill-Nicholls. A super pre-Christmas treat again from GTG.

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