Dick Whittington

I was looking forward to seeing Dick Whittington after several Jack and the Beanstalks' and I was not disappointed. On entering the Hall you could see a Grandfather Clock stage right with blue sky and fluffy white clouds over half the proscenium arch, with dark stone work on the other side, which I thought at first was possibly a dark, damp cellar, but turned out to be sewers. This was just a taste of the many excellent backcloths and sets, which were to follow, all well designed, constructed and painted. On the road to London, the city in the distance was glittering with gold and when Dick arrived in London all the roofs and windows glittered. The second half opened with a superb Dockside set, which was followed later with a set on board The Vitamin Sea, complete with bridge and ships’ wheel, with cabin beneath. The back stage crew worked efficiently to complete the many set changes swiftly. The wardrobe team had worked hard to produce an excellent set of costumes for the show, particularly the many varied outfits for Dame, Nautical Nancy. I loved Queen Rat’s outfits with the sweeping skirt, which helped make her very commanding. All the costumes were colourful and well worn, with a spectacular set of finale costumes with everyone in turquoise and the rats in silver. The hairstyles and makeup all added to the overall picture.

The lighting had been well designed and was well operated, there was good contrast between indoor and outdoor scenes, good atmosphere was created in the ‘sewer’ scenes, and the gauzes ‘melted’ well. I was not keen on the lights raking around the audience at the beginning. The sound effects were appropriate and well timed. The sound balance between musicians and voices was good.

It was lovely to see so many well-rehearsed dance routines from the four talented dancers, which acted as a backing to several scenes where you would not necessarily expect them. Lucy Cragg had also devised lively dances for the rest of the company, which were executed confidently.

The music had been well chosen and the songs were the right length to keep the interest of the children in the audience. The songs were well sung by everyone with excellent accompaniment from the band.

The Pantomime had been well cast, and there were some strong performances. Fairy Who, is a very clever fairy who uses the grandfather clock to travel through time and can rewind events so that they have the best outcome. Her job was to make sure dreams come true and she did it very well.  A man, rather than a girl played the role of Dick Whittington in this version. He had captured the character well, a mixture of uncertainty and bravado at the start of his adventure, developing into ‘our hero’ later on.  Tommy 'The Cat', had developed lovely feline movements and displayed her obvious annoyance at being labelled a ‘boy’ until she was renamed Tammy. Alice Fitzwarren, Dick’s love interest and daughter of Alderman Fitzwarren was confident in her role and worked well with Dick, they sang well together. Alderman Fitzwarren was the over protective father, obsessed with making money although I found him a bit over-fussy. Nautical Nancy, mother of Idle Jack and Captain of The Vitamin Sea, was every inch a pantomime dame, larger than life, saucy and with abundant energy. ‘She’ had good interaction with the audience and other characters. Her son, Idle Jack, gave us the comic element and worked the audience well with Nigel the seagull. The audience loved him especially in the ‘cooking’ scene when he ended up in such a mess. Queen Rat was portrayed as an elegant gangster, completely in control of her Rat Pack, with designs on becoming Lord Mayor of London.  She looked wonderful in a costume of red hot pants, an open fronted long coat/dress with a rat headdress, and gave an impressive performance, with excellent diction and a fine singing voice.  Frankie, Sammy Junior, and Deano as the Rat Pack worked well together, each one developing their individual characters. Frankie, the charmer, Sammy Junior, the most rat like, who likes to forage in the rubbish and Deano, the not very bright one. Mayor Naise was a minor role, but he did a good job by welcoming visitors to London. Bernard and Doreen, the citizens of London who did not like strangers, helped introduce some characters and were dressed in lovely ‘pearly’ costumes. Malibu and Coke, Queen of ‘Our Island in the Sun’ was a dominant and feisty character, even though she was a puppet. She had to convey so much just through her voice, well done. The rest of the cast supported the action well and all played their part in adding to the enjoyment of the pantomime.

This was a well-written script by Ross Brown, with new ideas, topical and local references. There was plenty of opportunity for audience participation; lots of jokes and slapstick comedy. Director Julian Hinton, had interpreted the script well throughout and had created good groupings and excellent friezes when ‘fairy magic’ was taking place.

This was an excellent production with good script, direction and performance, well supported by good staging, costuming, choreography, technical team and an enthusiastic band. Well done everyone.

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