Dick Whittington and His Cat

Although only my third visit to Fladbury Players it’s always a pleasure to be back.

Since last year the village hall has undergone a refurbishment and now provided, “Comfy seating” for the audience. Was good to see the Best Pantomime in the district certificate from a previous pantomime remained prominently displayed.

The annual pantomime continues to be well attended. The Fladbury pantomime is without doubt a community event with full houses for the run. The friendly rivalry to surrounding villages and reference to Fladbury was again in evidence.

Fladbury Players perform pantomimes with all the ingredient’s one would expect. The well known one lines as well as innuendo and well-staged comic moments.

Rob Brown not only directed the production but also played the part of Sarah the Cook. When Rob is involved you can expect a range of outrageous costumes and a different look upon each entrance. I had seen some of them before, but they continue to be of good quality. Rob can be relied upon to have excellent timing and facial expressions and did not disappoint. 

The tradition of the fairy entering stage right and the baddy stage left was adhered to with them rarely needing to cross to the other side of the stage. Sue Poultney played a likeable Fairy Bow Bells with conviction. Meanwhile Danny Sanders was dominating as King Rat with a superb costume and stage presence. Both delivered their rhyming lines well and did not stumble or hesitate.

Jonathan Brotherton, a regular to the Fladbury stage, who has previously played the Idle Jack role, never fails to bring the audience on board with loud interactions, rapport and energy.

Tillie Brotherton was a delightful Tommy the Cat. She brought the character to life with excellent cat like movement including a well delivered ballet. Her make up along with all cast members was good.  

The hero and heroine worked well together with Jack Dickson as Dick Whittington and Mia Brotherton as Alice. Both were believable (if that is possible in pantoland) and were confident together.

The Alderman Fitzwarren role was played well by Chris Gooderham. I did enjoy his duet with Sarah the cook. The remaining characters were brought to life by Jodie Young as Captain Cuttle and Abi Gooderham as the Sultan.

The more junior members of the cast played Moroccan Guards (Livvy Cuffley and Jasmine Brotherton), rats Gnawbone and Gnashfang (Violet Taylor and Toby Jennings) as well as chorus and rats. They, along with the small adult chorus, played their parts with enthusiasm.

It would be amiss not to mention the cooking scene. We have all seen these on numerous occasions and seen the flower/ flour gags each time. However, this one had (if I can get away with the expression) additional ingredients. A sausage pie routine was a real laugh out loud moment – well done on this and the massive balloons coming from the oven once the pie was cooked equally funny.  

Equally recognisable was the on-board ship drill scene, again however this had extra elements including cast brave enough and not for the faint heated quoting the tongue twister pheasant plucking song.

The projection on to the cyc was of good quality and contained animation. This however was never over the top and therefore complimented the action on stage and did not upstage it. On stage the set was limited due to space and time to bring on and off stage however it was effective and no more was needed. The cooker and safe were well constructed and both worked well. All set changes need to be done behind the main tabs however these were efficiently carried out and the action in front of tabs covered these on all but one occasion.

The sound effects were good, well cued and added to the performance.

The music played by two keyboards and electronic drums was at a suitable level. I heard every word of this production.

Finally, just a quick mention of the programme. The bios brought a smile to my face as they were amusing.

Overall this was a quality performance on a small and confined stage. Congratulations to all involved whether on stage, backstage or part of the production team. Thank you for the welcome and I look forward to 2020 and joining Fladbury Players.

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