DICK WHITTINGTON: Salisbury Playhouse to 11th January 2003
Dick Whittington
by Joanna Read and Stuart Thomas
Salisbury Playhouse, 7th December 2002 to 11th January 2003 at 10.30, 14.15 and 19.15 (2 shows a day, contact box office for details)
Runs 2hours 45 minutes: One Interval
Tickets 01722 320333: http://www.salisburyplayhouse.com
Review Mark Courtice: 12th December 2002
All the traditional trimmings make this a satisfying Christmas treat for all the family
This is really good fun. A show that looks terrific, tells a story clear enough to make sense to the youngest of attention spans and that is full of good natured fun. This is what panto should be, and not a refugee from Celebrity Big Brother in sight!
Read and Thomas tell the story straight and - although it is a bit of a surprise when we suddenly have to go to the South Seas - make sure that we keep up with it. Actually, I was glad about the South Seas as it meant another superb set from Richard Foxton’s classy design. He creates a London town with bold line drawings and witty shop fronts (Mrs. Lovett’s Pie shop nestles below the barber) crowding into the stage, keeping the size down so we do not often notice that the whole thing is being done with a cast of ten.
Later we get glitter and glamour galore. The costumes are colourful and cheerful, although if you were being picky you might have wanted a change or two more; even the camp sailing outfits made us all laugh, not just those in the know.
Even if the music is a bit ordinary and the direction occasionally rather stolid, the show has all the elements that we expect and want at Christmas. There’s a superb undersea ultra-violet section, a pair of gormless policemen, a custard pie fight, and a great baddy in the shape of Tom Peters’ King Rat, an Elvis look-alike with a microphone wittily secreted in his tail.
Richard Pocock’s Dame has real class, some good jokes and the gall to get away with the bad ones. Christopher Pizzey as Idle Jack is splendid and on the night I went coped with a gang of ladies of a certain age who had immoderately taken a shine to him, without ever being blue, or excluding the five year olds sitting next to them. Rebecca Stokes is a proper principal boy, Laura Strachan a sweet Alice, and both can sing.
In common with the overall traditional feel Zoe Oaks’ Fairy uses rhyming couplets to guide us through a good natured and satisfying evening.
Fairy Bow Bells: Zoe Oakes
Idle Jack: Christopher Pizzey
Betty the Cook: Richard Pocock
Officer Foxtrot: David Nellist
Officer Tango: Grant Burgin
Alderman Fitzwarren: Frank Ellis
King Rat: Tom Peters
Alice Fitzwarren: Laura Strachan
Dick Whittington: Rebecca Stokes
Tommy the Cat: Jessica Rose
Chorus: Isabella Caley, Rebecca Campbell-Jones, Iona Flavell, James Hall,
Amy Sanderson, Cara Treasure, Bethani Holme, Hannah Mansell, Krystie Olivier, Amelia-Jane Page, Joe Rose, Georgia Walker.
Director: Hannah Chissick
Designer: Richard Foxton
Lighting: Peter Hunter
Choreographer: Maggie Rawlinson
Musical Director: Jane Marlow
2002-12-15 17:17:04