Dick Whittington - Another Dick in City Hall

Published Thursday 3 December 2009 at 13:30 by Paul Vale

Fleeing to London in search of acceptance, Dick lodges above a gay bar in Docklands and finds himself embroiled in the mayoral elections.

Ross Mitchell (Holly Oaks), Mansel David (Wilma Whittington) and Basher Savage (Henry Regatta) in Dick Whittington - Another Dick in City Hall at Above the Stag Theatre Photo: Alan Day

When it comes to gay-themed pantomime, Dick Whittington probably offers the broadest range of double entendres and while authors Jon Bradfield and Martin Hooper make good use of this, their script still has a strong vein of traditional comedy running through it. All the usual characters are in place and the performances, a little wary at first, grow in strength as the cast learn their laughter lines.

Martin Cort makes a menacing Alderman Rat with property in Gran Canaria and a penchant for late night walks around Clapham Common. Ross Mitchell plays a hilarious blowsy Welsh landlady and is the perfect foil to Mansel David’s highly successful tyro dame performance, as the snooty Gloucester housewife, Wilma. Somewhat ironically, the only female in the cast, Gemma Seren, makes a fun Fairy. Jason Marc-Williams is an Idle Jack in name only, bouncing around the stage, and Basher Savage is perfectly cast as the statuesque Olympic hopeful, Henry Rat. Matthew Groom acquits himself admirably in the title role and Ross Henry Steele’s dry Glaswegian Boris the Cat is a delightful antidote to the perky panto mood.