Dick Whittington and His Cat

Peter Denyer, born in Dartford, Kent, was best known for playing the lovable but dopey Dennis Dunstable in the TV sitcom ‘Please Sir’. He also appeared in shows such as Dixon of Dock Green, Emmerdale and The Bill, before moving away from acting and into writing, directing and producing pantomimes. He died aged 62 in 2009.
Peter has rewritten the rags-to-riches story of Dick Whittington who comes to London with his cat and just a bundle of possessions. He is wrongly accused of stealing and then is shipwrecked before the story ends happily
Central to any panto has to be a good dame and Nick Noakes, with bosoms hoisted to perfection, certainly came up to the mark as Sarah the Cook, dishing out lots of sweets but the jokes were mainly directed at the adults, given the content. Andy Noakes as Idle Jack worked hard to get the audience on his side. Lindsey Hudson as Fairy Bow Bells sparkled with perfect rhymes softly spoken and was not antagonised by Queen Rat played superbly by Yvonne Hegarty who had great stage presence and relished our ‘hate’. Judy Burrows strutted her stuff as our hero Dick and I think we all wanted to take Tommy the Cat (Margaret Bown) home with us! There were solid performances from Sarah Potter as Alice Fitzwarren, David Trumper as Captain Cuttle and John O’Sullivan as Alderman Fitzwarren. It’s a pity we didn’t see more of Jacky Richardson and Elizabeth Hughesden as Gnawbone and Gnashfang and David Irving as the Sultan of Morocco. All the principles were ably supported by the rest of the chorus.
This panto had all the right ingredients with lots of fun, audience participation and a cast who were obviously enjoying themselves.

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