Dick Whittington

It remains difficult to believe that, with a history of 115 years, Coleshill on Stage and its predecessor Coleshill Operatic Society, have only performed four pantomimes in their impressive history.  I am pleased to have seen each one of them (they only go back to 2019 not 1908 in case you are wondering!). Each pantomime presented by Coleshill on Stage has been of a high standard and it is clear, that each year, they aim to raise the bar, this was achieved with this year’s offering Dick Whittington!

Dick Whittington is one of the main four pantomimes titles presented throughout the UK based on the real-life Lord Mayor of London Richard Whittington and always proves to be a popular choice with both the cast and the audience.

On entering the auditorium there was not a doubt regarding the title of the performance with the now expected high quality projection letting us know what we were about to watch– more about this use of technology later! The use of radio mics has added greatly to the overall enjoyment for the audience over the last couple of years.

Coleshill pantomime have kept to many ‘panto traditions’ while also moving with the times. This hopefully means pantomimes are relevant for the current audiences while sticking with many customs. I am always pleased to see the tradition of the baddie entering stage left and the goody stage right.  In this panto of course the baddie is King Rat, played by Dan Butler who showed good characterisation as well as make up and costume. From curtain up it was evident who we needed to boo! The goody – Fairy Bowbells (Angela Peach) played the likeable character we expected and achieving the compete opposite reaction to Dan as King Rat! As tradition has it both these characters spoke in rhyme. This requires absolute certainty in their dialogue  as there is little (if any) room for adlib if lines go wrong. Both also referred to current or previous mayors of London – names known to us all.

The first opening scene is where we usually first see the main characters and there was Alice Fitzwarren played nicely throughout the performance by Molly Bennett.  Alderman Fitzwarren, who was troubled as the rats had become immune to the bait in the shop, was played by Kelvin McArdle who portrayed the frustration of having staffing and problems well. Speaking of staffing problems, we come to Tom Willson (this year playing Idle Jack) who maintained the humour one expects from this character. On this occasion starting with some ‘awful’ pantomime jokes from his first entrance on to stage. Tom succeeded in achieving a running gag throughout the performance when the audience response/participation required  us to call back ‘Pull your socks up Jack’ on his every entrance.

Of course, every pantomime has to have a Dame and an all-round good guy, in this case Dick was played with confidence by Amy Reynolds and Dame Dolly Dumpling by Dean Yeates, who brightened up the stage with his comedic timing and great costumes! Dicks faithful sidekick - Tom the talking cat was played by Clare Willson in taking on her her first principal role bringing some lovely catlike mannerisms throughout ensuring an element of likeable fun to the character.

 Special mention must go to Scupper played by Ashleigh Poppitt who as part of the comedy duo had great command of the stage and interacted well with Captain Cuttlefish played by John Kerr and also  her fellow cast members.

Of course if you have a cat you need some rats. Who else would King Rat rule. As special call out to ‘The Ratlings’ namely Phoebe Norman, Daisie-Lee Smith and Jacob Willson (acting must run in the Willson household!) Congratulations for playing the rats as well as for the quick changes back to villagers. Also a well done to The Guards – Hope Goodyear and Malia Ndou who carried out the orders of the Sultan played by Rob Sharratt. I understand Rob is a newcomer to COS and along with Malia, Sophie Foster and Emma Jones I’m sure this won’t be the last time we will see you on stage.

A small chorus plus those named above doubled up as villagers who also set sail for the shores of Morocco, providing strong support for the principal characters.

Dick Whittington would not be complete without the traditional mop on deck routine. Having seen this about a million times it still can amuse if done right – luckily for us all the cast succeeded in doing this. 

Musical numbers throughout were good and some nice movement on a relatively small stage. I did enjoy the ‘Sea Medley’ and the company numbers such as ‘Go West’ and the finale ‘Colour My World’ in particular. However each of the numbers were done well especially ‘Anything You Can Do’ from Annie Get Your Gun sung with great enthusiasm by Dame Dolly Dumpling and Idle Jack. 

The staging itself was simple but nevertheless effective. However, the projection was amazing and some of the best I have seen whether professional or amateur theatre. The drop down to the sewer and the sinking of the ship and underwater deserve special mention.

This production was well received by the opening night audience and was another success for the director Tom Willson (yes, he also played Idle Jack) along with musical director Andrew Smith, choreographer Rachel Evans and production assistant Pauline Peach. The audience on the night I attended were somewhat quieter than when I have attended in the past but this was no a reflection of the overall performance.

Opening night may have account for some element of nerves as some lines needed to be just a bit clearer and slowing down this is a minor point and I am sure this will have been overcome during the run. Maybe a note for the future.

Well done to all at Coleshill on Stage and thank you for the warm welcome. I hope to see you again in September at The Core Theatre and Little Shop of Horrors.

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