Spotted Dick?
Well maybe I was a bit hasty about Panto, having just been to see Dick Whittington at Salisbury Playhouse directed by Hannah Chissick who, surely must have seen enough panto’s in her time to know what makes a good one. Perhaps not. A good cast let down by inconsistent direction and low budget.
I can’t believe that Tommy the cat didn’t even get a pair of silver trainers or some nice bling for the walk down, well not so much walk down as walk along. Times may be hard but many companies manage to produce a lot more for their money than this simple and at times confusing panto – Dick arrives in London wearing last years Robin Hood costume, Fairy Bow Bells only gets one costume the whole way through and when Tom the cat first came on I thought his wasn’t finished yet as one leg was cut off at the knee, and the other flapping about like cowboy chaps – but no, this was street stylie (allegedy). However, it didn’t stop Nyron Levy pulling some cool moves throughout. The plot was jumpy and it was hard to understand how come Alice Fitzwarren was so sure Dick hadn’t stolen her fathers ’stash’ of cash given they’d only just met. The overall design was gloomy perhaps subconsciously infected by recession blues and lacked sparkle despite valiant attempts by Stephen Matthews and Paul Caulfield as Sarah the Cook and Silly Billy although even Mr Matthews kicked off the jokes with - “it doesn’t get any better than this” luckily it did get better but it might be worth going elsewhere if like me, you’re a panto buff and whilst you might put up with a rusty old lamp with exciting potential you find it hard to stomach a half baked pudding with little chance of rising.