DICK WHITTINGTON. To 14 January.
Oxford
DICK WHITTINGTON
by Phil Wilmott
Oxford Playhouse To 14 January 2007
Tue-Sun various dates 10am, 11am, 2pm, 4pm, 6pm, 7pm
Audio-described 29 Dec 2pm
BSL Signed 13 Jan 2pm & 7pm
Runs 2hr 15min One interval
TICKETS: 01865 305305
www.oxfordplayhouse.com
Review: Timothy Ramsden 17 December
All things bright and some of them beautiful in Oxford this year.
Here is a traditional pantomime; so traditional its bright settings, exterior and interior, English and abroad don’t even bear a credit for their creator. Not that this is what the Victorians would have looked-for entirely, but it’s a gentle tale, efficiently told with just a few innuendos thrown-in along the smooth way.
At the centre is a tall, dark and permanently-grinning Dick, energetic enough in action but hardly imbued with ideas or decision-making powers. Those reside instead in Tommy the Cat, a creature that can suffer and complain as well as invent. Joe Allen’s aptly friendly and comic, though his interactive greeting to the audience becomes repetitive because the plot doesn’t allow it to develop.
This is a panto where comedy predominates within the story. Alice Fitzwarren’s elegantly pleasant but the main Fitzwarren presence is her merchant dad. After years of playing street-cred likely lads it’s nice to see David Cardy has prospered into an affluent older burgher. His affable reliance on his daughter to marry for money (ie so he can get more of it through sole trading rights with a Sultan) could shove Fitzwarren further towards the malevolent; but not with the likeable Cardy inhabiting the part.
Simon Green is a great Dame, bouncingly bucolic in the middle of the city, and never discomposed wherever her travels take her, keeping energy levels up throughout. Highlights include an active reworking of ‘The 12 Days of Christmas’ with some downmarket items, the first day bringing a piece of underwear that’s hardly likely to make it even to the rejects shop. With a chance for the audience to punctuate the refrain at number 5, and the cast darting around to keep up with the increasing array of objects d’ non art, it makes an amusing set-piece.
The Hiss/Boo factor’s well provided for in William Kenning’s tall, dark and unhandsome rat king, his various mini-minions at times capering around the stage and its edges, while Donna Hazelton’s Good Fairy, eschewing the trad blonde factor, is one with the more neutral representation of the romantic side of things. A good, down-the-line working pantomime.
Fairy Port Meadow: Donna Hazelton
King Atticus Ratticus: William Kenning
Alice Fitzwarren: Charlotte Warren
Tommy the Cat: Joe Allen
Dick Whittington: Raj Ghatak
Alderman Fitzwarren/Neptune/Sultan of Morocco: David Cardy
Dame Sarah the Cook: Simon Green
Dance Ensemble: Neil Dolan, Hayley Griffiths, Lucie Spencer, Chris Trenfield
Children: Chloe Barrett, Robbie Browning, Apoorva Gundeti, Hannah Harvey, Harry Pudwell, Bridie Shephard, Florence Vincent, Shakur Williams/Esme Carter, Charlie Guy, Dylan Hay, Naomi Heffer, Alice Jackman, Natalie Mitson, Eve Norris, Christopher Young/Raphael; Bushay, Jenny Yaxley/Rosie Helyer, Cal Johnson
Director: Peter Duncan
Lighting: Ashley Bale
Sound: Steve Wilson
Musical Director: Darren Reeves
Musical Supervisor: Paul Tarry
Choreographer: Gerry Zuccarello
Assistant directors: Poppy Burton-Morgan, Tom Littler
2006-12-22 11:26:45