Dick Whittington
Dick Whittington
St. Blazey AOS
Keay Theatre
St. Blazey’s annual Panto is a favourite in my calendar; a fitting farewell to miserable January, with recession and real life left outside we are transported to a colourful world of silly jokes, glitzy fairies, romance and the overthrow of the bad guy.
This year’s Panto carried a new look, one which I had slight reservations about when I heard on the grapevine that our Panto Dame was not to be the fabulous Kim Rowe, but, to my absolute horror, a woman! Now as all panto fans know, the Dame is historically played by a man and Kim Rowe has been the Dame of Dames for some time. However, putting reservations to one side, we let Panto wrap it’s magic around us in a warm and fuzzy blanket.
Kim Rowe, as previously mentioned, discarded his bloomers and transformed into evil King Rat, so deeply immersed and comfortable in the role you could almost smell the London sewers he inhabits with his fabulous and equally nasty Ratlings. New kids on the block, Daniel Annear and Bromley Hurn provided the youthful love interest as Dick and Alice, both turned in excellent performances in their first, but definitely not their last roles, with St. Blazey. An even younger member of the main cast, Alex Pearce, gave a strong and confident performance as Tom The Cat – this lad has a very bright future ahead of him. Fairy Bowbells provided Judy Hodgekiss with her first role with St. Blazey and she revelled in it, another face we will see again and again.
And so to the familiar faces; Mandy Raikes and Sarah Locks continue to make a brilliant comedy duo, their timing and stage partnership becoming stronger and funnier every year. Andy Gill’s Alderman Fitzwarren had just the right touch and son James' portrayal of Idle Jack elicited sympathy and laughs in equal measure. Tony Pickup’s Sultan was polished and leaning towards the lecherous when Dolly Dumpling appeared.
Ah! Yes, what of Dolly Dumpling the Dame played by a woman? Carol Gill being the woman in question – already known as a fine straight actress locally, were my reservations justified? Absolutely not! Carol has a natural gift for comedy and her passion for this role shone like a beacon. Somebody please give Carol more comedy scripts – she is fantastic.
High praise must also be heaped on the set designers, costume makers, musicians, sound and lights – all the people who put in hours behind the scenes to assist wonderful performances from the cast.
St. Blazey have turned the casting on it’s head this year, bringing us a fabulously funny new Dame and an extremely evil bad guy; but this leaves us with the question – what will the line-up be for Snow White and the Seven Dwarves in 2013? Interesting….
Sheila Vanloo
January 2012