Dick Whittington & His Cat

Genre: Family Pantomime
Opened 5 Dec 2006
Written: Mark Ravenhill
Directed: Edward Hall
Cast: Summer Strallen (Dick Whittington), Danny Worters (Totally Lazy Jack), Roger Lloyd Pack (Sarah the Cook), Sam Kelly (Alderman Fitzwarren)
Synopsis: With fun and song and magic cat . And don't forget that brute King Rat . Who's out to spoil our every joke. Appearing in a puff of smoke. But never fear, for at the palace Kindness shines through lovely Alice. Will she and Dick get wed or not? Or will King Rat destroy the plot? Are London streets still paved with gold? Or full of litter, muck and mould? Will Sarah the Cook bake her pies.Will Alderman Fitz slap his thighs??

What the critics had to say.....
FIONA MOUNTFORD for THE EVENING STANDARD says, "A script which is a tenderly constructed compendium of panto traditions, sewn together with a thread of jokes thriftily recycled from decades past." ALASTAIR MACAULAY for THE FINANCIAL TIMES says, "Mark Ravenhill: he has returned pantomime to its roots as sweet entertainment. " RHODA KOENIG for THE INDEPENDENT says, "While Ravenhill's scabrousness might seem to disqualify him as a panto writer, a greater objection, it seemed to me, is that he's not very funny. His characters lack the detachment needed to be witty, or the lovable dizziness needed to be amusing." MICHAEL BILLINGTON for THE GUARDIAN says, "Eyebrows were raised when it was announced that Mark Ravenhill was to write the Barbican's first pantomime. But, if not exactly clean as a whistle, it's a surprisingly traditional show that has all the ingredients of a good panto except the rackety exuberance of a great comic personality...the show is jolly, audience-friendly " CHARLES SPENCER for THE DAILY TELEGRAPH says, "This is a pantomime of constant freshness, imagination and wit...Michael Grandage directs a superbly assured and often genuinely shocking production that uncovers all the piece's cruel comedy and nihilistic emptiness, while Christopher Oram's designs conjure up a host of different locations with witty economy." BENEDICT NIGHTINGALE for THE TIMES says, "Mostly this Whittington consists of what Ravenhill describes in the programme as 'the time-honoured routines and old jokes remembered from my childhood'...This is a formulaic sort of panto, but, as Edward Hall stages it, jaunty and likeable enough."

External links to full reviews from popular press
The Guardian
The Independent
The Times
Daily Telegraph
Financial Times

Please see here to book Dick Whittington Tickets for the London Palladium production for Christmas 2017