Dick Whittington

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Any observation made by the reviewer can only be based on what he sees at the performance in question.  The reviewer may have received information in advance of the performance, and it is inevitable that his assessment will be effected by that knowledge.

The N.O.D.A. Representative’s intention is to give an objective critique of the overall production and in particular the performance viewed.  It should be remembered that any review of this nature can only be objective as far as the techniques used during the performance observed.  Any criticisms expressed may not have been valid at other performances, and are only made to encourage higher standards in Amateur Theatre.

It is hoped that the audience’s appreciation of your efforts will have given everyone a lift and encouraged you to greater achievements in the future and that the observations made by the reviewer will prove helpful in improving future productions.

Report by Angus Sheppard-Hughes SW Regional Representative District 16

As per usual, the hospitality from DODS was phenomenal. I find myself writing this every time, and every time there is something more interesting about meeting the creatives and society members. The first time I took on this role this was one of the things I wasn’t sure about, but meeting with you all gives me an insight into the production that I just don’t get from the seats of the raked seating. What a remarkable bunch of talented creatives you are too. Everything came together remarkably, and I left joyously, even having watched two Dick Whittington’s back to back in two days.

The Direction was very good for the size of the stage and especially the depth, as I know it can sometimes be hard to fill such a deep stage, even with every cast member on stage, so a really great job managing a cast of that size too. The Musical Direction was so wonderful to both watch and hear. As a musically minded man myself I do find myself at times drifting off to watch the MD conduct the band (don’t worry, I’m not judging anything you do) just to see how the cast and band are following the direction, and you really held the attention of both groups impeccably, so well done. The Choreography utilised the strengths of the group and had enough movement that even the less abled cast members could join in with the choreography, which is an excellent ability to have as a choreographer so very well done.

Dick Whittington, I’ve always felt sorry for this character. Not only does Dick not have the best time of it in the storyline, but he’s just not that interesting of a character and is basically just there as a plot point. But please believe me when I say it is every Dick in every pantomime that is like this, but as an actor it gives you a challenge to bring it out of the ordinary, everyday Dick Whittington and take it to new levels, and you did this successfully. Although you played the “traditional” leading man, you had an excellent duet with your love interest, Marrigold, which as a lover for the oldies and the goldies, Me and My Shadow was a big hit for me, your singing and dancing combined with your co-stars was a plethora of talent. So a big congratulations to you!

Marigold, played the sweet but resilient love interest of Dick and, yes, just like Dick you are perhaps a “traditional” character, but you managed to add your own spin on it which is the sign of a good actor. You were able to go with the ebbs and flows of the jokes, plot lines and never once got lost in the background. Just like Dick, you sang wonderfully in Me and My Shadow and had a great younger energy to quite a dated song. Just lovely to see and hear.

Baron Landscape, which is a great character name, was again the “traditional” panto king-type-character who was the father of either the love interest or the leading man. This time he was the father of Marrigold who wasn’t as upper-class as you were, but I felt a lot of the jokes were suited for this style of character choice. Your relationship with Marrigold was to be commended and generally every time you were on stage you filled it with a great energy!

Ahh, here we go, Dame Maisie Luvaduck which again is a great name for a Dame, was the larger-than-life, (and larger than most things with those fake bosoms) fun loving dame who had really high energy and great interactions with the other characters. Your comedic timing was impeccable, and I couldn’t fault either the physical gags or the spoken ones, you really did hit the nail on the head with those. One small point from me would be with giving the audience a gap to breathe. Offering that time after a joke or a gag lets the audience catch up with you, as us mere mortals in the audience need time to catch up with the cleverness and quick wittedness of the script and delivery. This was only at certain times where there was a fast-paced scene happening, but this is just something to keep in mind even at those points. Fab job, well done!

Thomas, the “and his cat” part of the title always gets lost in panto’s but you are the most important character! You get the audience on your side and you really managed to bring something to this non-speaking role. Your cat-ography (trademarked by me) was excellent and you essentially were the hero of the panto for chasing all those nasty rats away. We the audience fell in love with your charisma and I for one loved it every time you were on stage.

King Bubonic III, Drat and Brat were the classic baddies of this Dick Whittington, and played the two farthest impersonations of Londoners I have ever seen. King Bubonic was overly posh (like one of those people who say “gap yaar” instead of gap year) and Drat and Brat were the cockney-esque sidekicks who followed him around everywhere. Brat had a sub-subplot where she was in love with King Bubonic which I didn’t really see going anywhere but nonetheless added more to your character.

Captain Roger Albatross, Queen Lompebom, Spoon and Phoebe added layers to the panto plot, and took the story in a direction I wasn’t sure I could follow, but with the help of these characters the story wasn’t lost on me at all. Captain Albatross gave a wonderfully camp rendition of “In the Navy” whilst serving excellent rapport with Maisie. Queen Lompebom was a cannibal…enough said? She and Spoon singing “I like to chew it, chew it” was impressive and they had great rapport throughout their scenes together. I did enjoy the “physically sick” fast bits in that song too, they stuck with me long after the show had finished. And lastly Phoebe had a very dry humour, and basically only came on to drive the plot along, which was needed at some points to help keep the audience informed of more complex plot lines.

Finally, the chorus were really animated, had an overall high energy and added wonderfully to the show as a whole. The dancers too were a great addition, really making use of that big stage and extension. And as I always say, which is completely true, the show would be nothing without the chorus members and secondary characters.

P.s: Shoutout to the butcher who sang the line “who will buy my big fat sausages”, best line of all which I repeated to my partner the whole way home!

These comments solely reflect the view of the representative and can only relate to the performance seen.

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