Dick Whittington

RODS annual pantomime is usually a very jolly and fun production; however it seemed to get off to a very slow start this year.  The first night audience were not particularly responsive and the pace, in the first half, suffered as a consequence.  It picked up in the second half as the audience warmed to the show but it does highlight how important it is to get the audience joining in as early as possible.

The Principals all worked really hard to bring the script to life but it wasn’t easy. The author is credited as Brad Fitt, but I have to say that I have seen better versions of this story.  It seemed rather tired and trite and the ‘panto stuff’ which is a crucial part of the experience was rather forced.

Having said that there were nice strong performances from Maree Gaskin as Fairy Bow Bells, Martin Wood as King Rat and Freya Harrison was Dick Whittington. Amanda Chart gave a good characterisation as Alice; Gemma Elsey captured the ‘catlike’ qualities for Tommy and Kathryn Llewellyn worked incredibly hard, as Idle Jack, to get the audience to join in. Mike Robertson (Alderman FitzWarren) Dave Smith (Sarah the Cook) and Kevin Hayes (Sultan of Morocco) completed the cast of Principals.

The ensemble was enthusiastic and created good performances in their scenes.  The Kelly Went dancers were, as always delightful to watch; although I did find the choreography quite repetitive this year. There also a delightful song from David Wood, I would have liked to have heard more of him.

The scenery was well done, especially given the limitations of the venue.  However I did think that the costumes were a bit of a mish-mash. I do wonder why Alice was wearing a modern summer dress when the rest of the cast seemed to be in period costume. Some of the other costumes seemed to have been put together with little thought as to their suitability for the performer.

Lighting was, generally, right although it was a shame that the vignette with Fairy Bow Bells and Neptune was lit in such a way as to impinge on the undersea scene happening on stage. Using ultra violet light on stage always creates an enjoyable scene but ONLY if the, blacked out, operators are not lit. In this situation it would have been better if the operators had stayed to the left of the stage so they did not encroach onto the lit part and be exposed!

Overall the audience left feeling that had enjoyed a good evening’s entertainment, well done RODS.

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