Dick Whittington, The Lowry Theatre, Salford Quays Review

Overall Rating

Music and sound effects were well timed.

Chesney Hawkes has a shy but charming lead.

Ship set was impressive.

Darren Day gives a consistent strong performance, as does Frasier Hines in the supporting cast.

Music was far too loud and the choices of pop song were bizarre.

Main girl, Alice, was screechy and unable to carry off the big solos she was given - I'm unsure of why she is the female lead.

Fairy Bowbells goes from posh dame to Nora Batty within 3 seconds - inconsistent performance.

The story is filled with plot holes and inconsistencies.

There are too many supporting characters which was confusing for my kids; Captain Cuttle, Jack, Sarah, Fairy Bowbells, Alice, Dick, King Rat, The Cat ......

Although the ship is impressive, the rest of the set was standard and unimpressive.

Too many 'Dick' (as in Whittington) jokes, certainly for a child focused audience.

During the sword fight, a piece of the sword banged a child on the head and during the sequence where the cast run though the crowds, Captain Cuttle literally bounced off the audience's head (Health and Safety anyone?!)

Although I am sure your children will enjoy the panto, as there is lots of interaction and sillyness with the supporting cast, there are some serious holes in the panto.

The songs are not original and are pop - but with some odd choices that have nothing to do with the actual Panto - for example, Chesney Hawkes singing 'I am the one and only?'. He can sing for sure, but this is panto, not the Chesney Hawkes come back concert.

Chesney is very charming on stage but he is obviously quite shy compared to the other characters. Captain Cuttle is a scouser - Jack is a Salford scally, and Sarah the Cook is the Dame and is very good at it too. Darren Day gives a good consistent performance as King Rat (I don't remember him from Dick Whittington either), and plays it in the style of Elvis, but since he only gets to sing one or two songs, it feels like they didn't use their biggest star to the fullest.

The main female lead, Alice and Fairy Bowbells look far too similar. On stage, its easy to get confused between their bleached curly blonde locks.

"are they the same person?" said my seven year old.

"are they the same people?" said the man behind me immediately after.

Sound picky, but when you are running a big production like this, you should think about defining your characters more clearly to avoid confusion, especially for small kids. Maybe a wig for Alice or Fairy would have helped distinguish them from each other? Or maybe neither of them wanted to give up being blonde....

The story is full of plot holes too - Dick goes to London to seek his fortune. He is for some reason banished later, then he sets voyage even though he has been forgotten? - Why? There is no development either between Alice and Dick and to be honest, who cares if they get married or not in the end? I give it two years, tops.

There were also far too many lewd, Northern jokes. How can there not be a 'Dick' joke, in Dick Whittington, right? But there is a line where I could see parents looking a bit uncomfortable - it is small kids in the audience after all, and the constant scouse, Manchester 'chav' jokes are but a cheap laugh.

Having seen the panto at the Lowry from the last three years, I have to say this years is by far the weakest. Last years Aladdin had an amazing, charming Male lead, and Bill Ward (Charlie from Corrie) was brilliant as the villian. There were also spectacular moments, and the year before, Cinderella, also had very special moments (such as when Cinderella transforms).

I say if you want to see all the Panto's around Manchester, why not pay this one a visit? But beware if you have sensitive ears, or a sensitive disposition. The highlight of this Panto is Chesney singing I am the One and Only - I kid you not.

Members' Comments onbeautedekose's Review

• Clair on 17th Dec 2007

  I have to say I agree with last years performance of Aladdin - Bill Ward really made the whole show.
  As for this year any panto starring Chesney Hawkes and Darren Day should of been enough to warn anyone of this production. We are just booked into the opera house this year for Cinderella and having read a few reviews already it seems to be the Panto of choice in Manchester this year.
  Thanks for your review it was a joy to read.