YOUTH THEATRE PANTOMIME REVIEW: Dick Whittington - The Met Theatre, Bury.

So it’s that time of the year where the fabulous tradition of pantomime is present in so many of our theatres up and down the country. Families are out supporting their local theatres and taking their children to have licence to make as much noise as they can and to have a totally fun experience before Christmas. The brilliant Met Theatre in my local town of Bury is no exception and this example was put on for a single night and by their very own youth theatre company – Bury Youth Theatre.

Bury Youth Theatre is run by Jack Forrest and is a supportive environment where young people come together and learn new skills – they are able to create their own shows. Ultimately BYT provides a creative outlet for those young people and boy did this show through when they presented Dick Whittington, a creative and very funny performance where every single person in attendance walked away with a smile on their face.

We had the pleasure of hearing from Jack prior to the start of the panto – he explained how hard the young people had worked in order to get this show onto the stage and made the very topical point that the rules around Covid-19 may be changing and this was a very good opportunity to be out in a theatre with the full-on experience.

In truth Jack didn’t need to mention how hard these young people had worked because that came across in every single section of Dick Whittington.

For those who aren’t aware, the story of Dick Whittington is about a poor boy from Gloucestershire who walks to London to seek his fortune in London, where the streets are paved with gold.  He found work in a local merchant, Fitzwarren, and subsequently fell in love with Mr Fitzwarren’s daughter Alice. Dick was accompanied throughout by his cat and has various adventures including being marooned on a desert island where his cat is used to rid the kingdom of a rat infestation.

The cast of the BYT version of Dick Whittington all performed brilliantly – none more so than Dick’s cat Tommy who delivered his many comedy lines with a deadpan approach which was appreciated by all those in the audience, particularly the adults. A special mention also needs to go to Sarah the Cook and Tricky Trevor who both connected with the audience really well and got lots of vocal support – equally King Rat was something of a natural as the bad guy and attracted lots of audible “boos and hisses” every time he appeared.

In truth though, all of the performers did a fabulous job and the pantomime was exactly what it should be – really funny and generally entertaining. The venue was busy with mostly families with small children and it was clear that all that were there enjoyed themselves and walked away with beaming smiles.  A really good advert for young people in Bury doing something very positive with their time.

Reviewer - John Fish
on - 8.12.21