On Wednesday 6th December, I saw a live production of Dick Whittington at Salisbury Playhouse - we

saw a morning performance (10:30am), where the theatre style was non-naturalistic and
pantomime. Dick (played by Will Carey) leaves his monotonous life in Salisburyshire behind and
heads to London to pursue his podcast dreams, but something ratty gets in the way of his ambitions.
Written by Plested, Brown & Wilsher and performed in a thrust configuration, Dick Whittington is an
energetic and lively experience, paired with the brilliant use of set and lighting.

My first impression of the show was how extravagant the overall design for the show was,
everything had a pop of colour and it helped with keeping the energy high. A few highlights from the
show included the boat sequence with the song medley (I loved how they seamlessly switched
between the songs and utilised the set by tearing it apart piece by piece to represent the storm),
Percy Rat’s song (the ensemble sparkled during this moment, the movement they collectively had
fully immersed me into believing they were rats) and the moment when Dick first boards the train
and there is a spotlight on a toy train near the orchestra pit (it was a very subtle but clever way of
showing Dick travelling, while allowing a scene transition to happen onstage). All the actors gave
dynamic performances, however a few stood out to me; Dick (played by Will Carey), Cosmo (Lindo
Shinda) and King Percy Rat (Will Jennings). Carey was high-spirited throughout the entire show, as he
plays the main character, and this showed through his loud projection, upward inflection and
constant audience interaction. Shinda played the less outspoken character of Cosmo, but
communicated the cat’s fiery nature through her mannerisms, even when the focus wasn’t on her,
such as cleaning her ears, feeling her tail and even hissing. Jennings did a great job of presenting a
grimy, greedy rat through both his physicality and voice; he utilised the rat tail, often using it to fend
off others, and was very quick on his feet, scurrying across the stage, and always spoke in a deep,
raspy tone to intimidate the audience. I found the strongest relationships shown in the play were
Dick and Cosmo (a friendly companionship), Dick and Alice (a blooming romance) and Dick and Percy
Rat (a game of cat and mouse, or maybe cat and rat is more appropriate), as they were the most
prevalent and developed.

The staging configuration was a thrust, and we were seated in the side seats, specifically SL, so this
impacted our view as an audience member already – we could occasionally see actors waiting to
enter and exiting, and it was a little distracting, as well as being neglected when it came to spraying
the audience with water. I found the set and lighting to enhance the pantomime experience; the big
statement pieces of set, such as the baked bean can, and varied states of lighting (the storm,
entering space, the bright LEDs of London) were visually stimulating and very impressive, combined
with the fluid scene transitions. A transition I felt was slightly overused was lighting the audience
with spotlights and strobes so that the stage was within darkness and set could be moved, I found it
interesting to begin with, but it was used just a few too many times, I almost felt like I was expecting
it. I loved how they used the set pieces for multiple purposes, the piece that immediately comes to
mind is the giant Mama’s Café baked bean tin, which was opened to be the café space, sat on top of
by Dick and Alice for a heartfelt moment and then turned into the rocket ship when they travelled to
space – it was a good way to portray different locations without three pieces of set. The use of
costume was solid, however, it felt slightly toned down from last year’s Cinderella – as always, the
costume design was loud and vibrant, and my favourites included Percy Rat and Cosmo, Percy Rat’s
wardrobe was a perfect combination of dirty and fashionable, and I liked the patchwork patterns of
Cosmo’s outfit to replicate fur patches. The use of sound was standard for a pantomime, lots of
songs and animated sound effects, although at times it felt like the actors’ microphones were too
quiet, as the audience was shouting over them, so maybe having them a little too loud would’ve
prevented this issue.

I did enjoy Dick Whittington as a whole; I found the pop culture references (Salisbury as a town, the
government, rail replacement buses) to be very funny and the story was always driven, however
there were moments I found didn’t work as successfully as the rest of the show. I found the
character of the Dame/Sarah the Cook to be toned down from last year’s Dame, both in her
character and costume design – not many of her jokes landed as an audience member, and her
costume changes felt rushed and uninspired, I wish that they went further with Sarah as she
could’ve been an iconic character if they pushed for her presence more. Another aspect of the
costume I disliked was Alice’s dress reveal when she wanted to audition for the famous director, I
found the sequin dress to be an underwhelming reveal and I think the outfit should’ve been more
bedazzled for such a moment. As mentioned previously, King Percy Rat was my favourite character
in the show, I found every moment of his hilarious and endearing, how he worked with the
ensemble was very entertaining and his interactions with the audience were always enjoyed. As it
was a morning show, most of the audience were younger children, and this was both a blessing and
a curse – the kids loved interacting with the actors, mainly Percy Rat who they always
enthusiastically booed, but once they were excited it was hard to calm them down, they would talk
through important dialogue and I found it hard to hear sometimes, this is why I felt as if the mic
levels could’ve been higher. The audience was welcoming and certainly enjoyed the show, myself
included, although I could’ve benefited from earplugs when the children screamed along with the
actors.

All in all, Dick Whittington was a fun watch, the characterisations were energised and there was
never a dull moment on stage, the audience interaction was well received and reciprocated
however, I think a greater attention to detail would’ve made the production impeccable, and finding
a way to quieten the children would've made it more enjoyable for me (I appreciate that this isn’t
the responsibility of an actor, rather the adults accompanying them, but more respectful and in
character methods of trying to move on from a moment would’ve saved important dialogue being
missed).