Dick Whittington
Sutton Arts Theatre
****
I am sure time speeds up with age. As a
child the gap between Christmases was an eternity, and then some, now .
. . well, it seems like only a few weeks ago I was down at Sutton Arts
watching Cinderella heading off to the ball with her horizontal horse.
This year Cinderella, or at least her alto-ego Phebe Jackson,
has left her glass slipper behind and taken up a magic wand as Fairy
Bowbells in this year’s traditional festive treat, Dick Whittington, and
its looking like another Christmas cracker.
Jackson, a performing arts graduate, looks more
at home on stage every time I see her and here she also gets to shows
off her great voice in a very confident and professional performance.
She is matched by the star of the show, Robbie
Newton, as the oh so vile King Rat. It is a deliciously evil
performance and all credit to Newton who had to face up to the first
four rows packed with Brownies with screams that could break a anvil
whenever he appeared.
Far from being put off, Newton revelled in it,
showing yet another side to what is becoming a very accomplished CV at
Sutton.
He had a lovely line in sneers, scowls and put
downs as well as a rats’ nestful of your ordinary, common or garden
nastiness.
Battling the King is Dick and his cat, his trusty
feline played by Izzy Beardsmore. The cat, Tomatoes, might be easy when
it comes to words, like it’s just meow, but it is still not the easiest
part to play, crouching and slinking cat-like around, chasing rats every
few minutes and she does it well, so much so, she was the favourite
characters for quite a few youngsters.
Dick is played by another SAT regular Tim
Benjamin with another confident performance in one of panto’s straight
parts, another being Alice Fitzwarren played here with an innocent air
by Sophie McCoy.
They are the romantic interest, boy meets girl
and all that, and do it well, with a pleasant duet, their little love
story a little island of calm in the rolling ocean of panto mayhem around them.
Amelia Ferrelly gives us a lovely performance as
Silly Sally from Somerset who works, in the loosest possible sense of
the word, in Alderman Fitzwarren’s shop, and has an IQ that is just
about approaching double figures and less than full control of her legs.
And she sleeps a lot.
Phebe Jackson working her magic as Fairy
Bowbells
Fitzwarren, played by Pete Dent, has Sarah the
Cook to thank, or blame, depending upon your point of view, for running
the shop and Paul Atkins does a fine job as the panto's traditional dame, with an
outlandish range of frocks and some of the worst one liners and jokes
yet seen in Christendom
And popping up in an endless number of jobs are
Billy Bottle, played by Mark Natrass and Sammy Sack, played by James
Hutt.
They create a truely stupid double act which
appeals to young audiences. There is good support from King Rat’s slave
Stinker, a role shared by Ashley Laight and Chris McHugh, and Suzy
Donnelly does her regal bit as the Sultana of Morocco.
And behind them all is a 14 strong ensemble who
give us townsfolk and Moroccan guards full of enthusiasm and well
ordered dancing choreographed by Emma Green, Janine Henderson and Sarah
Rhian
Directors Dexter Whitehead and Emily Whitehead,
who also wrote the script, have again treated panto as a full-blown, big
budget production with a good set, designed by Mark Natrass using a
scrim and a rolling cloth with an aerial view of London.
David Ashton’s lighting and Chris McHugh’s sound
have more cue’s than most shows and even include two projectors for an
undersea scene of sharks and fish all in the hands of Callum Craib, Wanda Harris and Sophie
Clarke.
The undersea bit also includes a flying sequence,
which is a brave - or mad - move by a theatre with just a ceiling and no flies –
although I suspect Dick and Alice will be very nervous every performance
about where the sticks are going to go – bringing tears to your eyes
doesn’t come near to covering it, but you will have to buy a ticket to
find out why.
Costumes - wardrobe mistress Phebe Jackson - are
impressive and there are enough pyrotechnics (Stephen Curran and Spot on
Events) to manage a half decent bonfire party.
Children in the audience loved it, even being
enthralled by a model ship flying (slowly) above their heads on a wire.
Simple and unsophisticated – we think children need more and more CGI
and SFX but sometimes we forget they have the greatest special effects
of all - imagination.
Adding the music was musical director Gladstone
Wilson with Adam Hawkins and Dan Emery on percussion.
This was the first performance and the first act
took a little time to get going with things gaining momentum after the
interval. With the opener under their belts though the show will tighten
up and pick up pace to find its natural rhythm - it’s another fine feather in Sutton’s
family panto cap . . . oh yes it is! To 22-12-18
Roger Clarke
08-12-18
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