Dick Whittington

Published Friday 21 December 2007 at 11:35 by Graham Williams

UK Productions are rightly renowned for the slickness and professionalism of their touring shows, and this - the first panto to be staged by the company at the Grand - is no exception.

There is a sense in which the slick approach tends to eclipse the warmth and the essential local flavour that Swansea audiences have come to expect in recent years, but this is more than compensated for by the performances from Kevin Johns as Sarah the Cook and Hayley Gallivan as Alice Fitzwarren, both of whom engage brilliantly with the home audience.

Seasoned trouper Barry Daniels fares particularly well as Alderman Fitzwarren, while Adam Gaskin does a super job as Tommy the Cat.

The big names for this one are Hannah Waterman - who cuts a fine figure in the title role - plus Ray Meagher as a highly effective and villainous King Rat, and Anne Charleson as the dotty but lovable Fairy Bowbells - but it is Rik Gaynor’s Idle Jack who dominates the proceedings with his breakneck delivery and lively, animated approach.

One suspects that the script has been doing the rounds for a while, and some segments would benefit from the odd tweak here and there - some of the references are a tad dated, and several of the gags hark back to the days when innuendo and flatulence jokes were an accepted part of the genre.

Musical director Griff Harries and young performers from the Grand Theatre Dance School complete the line-up for this spirited, if rather overly long, production, which should hopefully get the box office tills ringing well into 2008.