Dick Whittington

On a Saturday morning in rainy Leigh a little bit of sunshine happens with Turnpike Community Theatre’s yearly pantomime production - this year Dick Whittington. With a slightly different plot featuring a tavern, the innuendos are plentiful with the title of the pantomime, something for the grown-ups and something for the kids including sweets into the audience (I didn’t get any).

The set is simple and functional helping the scenes move quickly. We are in a pub in the sewers, on board a ship and an exotic land. A large pub keg acts as a safe, we see a ships wheel, flags, palm trees, various placards and a giant plug all featured. Set Design and Construction is Richard Pilkington. Stage Manager is Neil Gredecki.  Costumes all looked in keeping and I liked the cockney Spirit of London as a Pearly Queen with wings. The rats looked good and funny when they wore goggles for swimming. The colour co-ordination of the finale worked. Costumes by Carole Boardman, Neil Gredecki and Richard Pilkington. Lighting and Sound all added to the production. Lead Technician Stuart Hill and Technician Alan Boardman.

Choreographer was Sophia Assaf as well as playing the lead Dick Whittington. Making good use of the stage and everyone getting their chance to shine working with Hannah Boardman who directed. Love the scene where everyone was trying to steal the map and the added Benny Hill music to create the chaos with various stuffed animals brought on and a giant pasty at one point (you had to be there), with traditional pantomime vibes of something for everyone and cast working well together.

The chorus were supportive and played villagers, pirates and rats with the rats giving a great rat sound. Courtney Zanni plays Tiddles the Cat who saves the day more than once. Sue Slack played The Spirit of London complete with cockney rhyming slang and guiding us through the story. Charles Morelli played Alderman Fitzwarren with r.p. accent reminding me very much of Boris Johnson in his delivery and manner. David Hadcroft gave us the evil plotting King Rat with the longest rat tail known to rats, who’s army were not very good so he didn’t stand a chance. His two henchmen Kate Sweeney played Nip and Anita Grace was Tuck. They were hilarious, not truly understanding their role of being evil, mis-hearing and getting things wrong. Loved Tuck always eating and thinking about food and they had a good chemistry together on stage. The scene with King Rat about ‘ear and there’ and the little shuffle off stage every time - great work!

Nicholas Worthington took on the role of Dame Sarah. Nicholas definitely played the bloke-in-a-frock part. I did wonder at one scene on the island about his dress, some confusion about the dress change - but hey, it’s live theatre. That aside Nick courted the audience and a gentleman in particular and played the man-hungry dame well. Emma Morris as Barrow Boy Billy brought lots of fun and energy to move the show along. Georgia Heapy was Alice the Alderman’s daughter - a bright happy character that falls in love with Dick Whittington. Andrea Peters takes on the role of Long John Tinfoil, the pirate or maybe not. Andrea’s first entrance saw her burst in with energy which she kept up all the time, including cod pirate accent and trying to get the map to find the treasure. Very funny. Sophia Assaf as I mentioned earlier takes on the role of Dick Whittington. Strutting her stuff giving a confident principal boy, who takes charge of the situation.

Thank you so much for the laughs, invite, hospitality and making us feel welcome from my guest Angela and I.

Liz Hume-Dawson

District 5 Rep

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