Panto magic with Dick Whittington at Aberdeen Arts Centre. Image - Richard Frew
Who wants to be Lord Mayor of London when you can be Lord Provost of Aberdonia? Not our Granite City Dick Whittington, that’s for sure.
And the rollicking tale of how he makes his fortune – and wins the keys to the city – makes for a fantastic panto outing at Aberdeen Arts Centre in the hugely talented hands of TaleGate Theatre.
The theatre company is marking five years of panto at the iconic city venue and have pulled out all the stops with Dick Whittington, in a show that transports the audience from the mean(ish) rat infested streets of old Aberdonia to the high seas and back again.
On the way there are talking cats, villainous rats, fiesty fairies, and more song and dance numbers than the final of Strictly Come Dancing.
Oh and laughs, lots of laughs, mainly driven by a script that zings and dings with one-liners and gags that are worthy of the poshest of Christmas crackers. Did you burn your Hawaiian pizza? Should have put it at Aloha temperature... boom-tish.
Fairy Mither Kirk (Sara Helena Ord) chimes with local Aberdonians in Dick Whittington. Image - Richard Frew
Writer James Worthington clearly never met a pun he didn’t like and this panto is all the better for it.
And he also knows his way around the much-loved set pieces of Pantoland. A slapstick sketch involving seagulls and pies in the face was a joy to watch. So funny that it even had the cast gleefully corpsing, adding more hilarity to proceedings.
Also a highlight was the tongue twister around the shoe shiner who sits and shines – hard to type that, let alone say it, but carried off with aplomb by the cast (and giggling from the bairns in the audience).
TaleGate, as always, present the slickest of pantos, with Philip Napier leading the charge as the larger-than-life and never less than entertaining Dame, Sally FitzMackie, in a constant parade of quick costume changes.
Meanwhile, Xander Gordon makes a dashing hero as Dick and has a lovely chemistry with Hannah Buyers who excels as Alice FitzMackie. Even better is the wee contemporary twist at the end of their “love at first sight” yarn.
Hero of the piece, Dick Whittington (Xander Gordon). Image - Richard Frew
Keeping the references local is a hallmark of the Aberdeen Arts Centre panto, so Sarah Helena Ord chimed nicely as Fairy Mither Kirk out to thwart the wicked plans of Queen Rat – the deliciously scary Megan Wright (which made her corpsing at the pie flinging even funnier).
Now, where would Dick Whittington be without his cat? Adding a sense of glee – and even more punning – to proceedings was Caitylyn Louise Boyd as Tommy the Cat who was clearly “feline” good in the role.
These days, no panto is complete without a big special effect – in this case a giant rat, all glowing red eyes and snarling that had the audience cheering Tommy in the battle of good vs evil.
And at this point, the real magic of panto happened – the sea of kids in the auditorium, jumping up, shouting out and absolutely transfixed and transported by what was happening on stage. For many that was probably their first taste of the wonder of theatre and one what will hopefully last a lifetime for them.
It’s a gift that keeps on giving and tricorn hats off to TaleGate and the Arts Centre for making the magic real.
Dick Whittington runs at Aberdeen Arts Centre until Christmas Eve. You can find more information and tickets here.
Review by Scott Begbie
Boo, hiss... it's Queen Rat as played by Megan Wright. Image - Richard Frew