Written by, directed by and starring Eric Potts, this pantomime is traditional with a capital T. Shown over this weekend for free on the 'The Shows Must Go On' YouTube channel, children young and old had the chance of watching and enjoying this season's celebrated artform in all it's traditional glory.
Potts is no stranger to panto, and as well as carving a niche for himself as panto dame extraordinaire, he has also written several of them too. For this one we take a time machine back to 2014 when the UK was still reeling with love and excitement over a performing dog called Pudsy and his handler, Ashleigh, who were 'Britain's Got Talent' winners in 2012! Filmed live at Bristol's Hippodrome Theatre, this is a wonderful piece of memorabilia which will keep on making youngsters laugh for many many years to come.
Colourful, slick, plenty of costume changes and great sets, and a cracking script from Potts - loads of silly pun-style jokes as well as some bluer innuendos for the grown-ups - plenty of slapstick, and many of the traditional routines and responses which we all know and love; there is absolutely nothing not to like about this show, it ticks all the boxes, and more besides by having a young skin-performer as Dick Whittington's cat and a real live performing dog too! If I had to make an observation, then I would say it falls down on one thing only, and that is by casting the role of Dick as a male: traditional panto calls for this role to be 'Principal Boy' ie: a female.
The lighting, sound, and effects were all excellent, and I loved the underwater sequence: just scary enough to keep the boys happy, and just cute enough to make the girls smile. The ensemble dancers were good and I loved the use of local children dancers too; again, another traditional element of this genre.
Taking the leading roles besides Asheligh Butler (Pudsey) and Eric Potts (Sarah The Cook), were Ben Faulks (Dick Whittington), Andy Ford (Idle Jack), Brenda Edwards (Fairy Bowbells), Lara Denning (Queen Rat), Hayley Jane Goold (Dick's cat), and Ben Goodridge doubling as both the Alderman and the Sultan.
I loved all the local references which could and would obviously be changed for each city they toured to, and the company worked superbly as an ensemble cast throughout. Upbeat and current music / songs were used throughout, and sensibly directed by Malcolm Forbes-Peckham, and the lively choreography was by Kerry White.
It's certainly the best and most traditional pantomime I have seen in a very long time.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 2/1/21
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