Dick Whittington at DeMontfort Hall

 

Review by Paul Towers, 13/12/25

Dick Whittington by Imagine Theatre, additional script by Janice Dunn, Jarred Christmas & Jack Ballard

Directed by Janice Dunn

Produced by Imagine Theatre

At DeMontfort Hall til Saturday 3^rd January 2026

My second pantomime this weekend and my second Dick Whittington. Can you have too much Dick? Certainly not when you are at Leicester’s premier concert hall, DeMontfort Hall.

Returning to the hall is Imagine Theatre with the feel-good tale of an impoverished boy, Dick (Jarred Christmas) and his Beat Boxing Cat Boots (Hobbit) as they try to realise their dream of making it in London. Along the way they have to prove their worth to Alderman Fitzwarren (Richie Anderson) in order to win the hand off his daughter Alice (Rebecca Keatley). Jack’s mum, Sarah The Cook (Jack Ballard) does her best to support her son and help him out. Inevitably she just makes it worse.

The villain of the piece is the gloriously vile Queen Rat (Djalenga Scott) who is up against the saintly Fairy Bow Bells (Suzanne Shaw) who has to counter the regal attempts to thwart Dick’s aspirations and take over London with her swarm of ratty minions.

Dick and his Mum, ably assisted by the incredibly talented Boots, quickly have the audience in the palms of their hands and the squeals of delight from the (mostly) younger members of the audience was testament to how right this show is.

All the expected elements of pantomime are here including the water fight and the toilet roll shenanigans. Of course you have to expect to find some unexpected songs shoehorned into the narrative. But that’s half the fun.

The main cast are ably supported by an adult ensemble and a couple of teams of local junior dancers/singers

I was not expecting Richie Anderson to have such a nice singing voice and was a bit dubious about the inclusion of a beat boxing cat but it all worked incredibly well.

Dick Whittington runs at DeMontfort Hall until Saturday 3^rd January 2026. Grab a ticket for a fun filled evening of family frolics.

https://www.demontforthall.co.uk/

https://ptheatre.blogspot.com/ 

Dick Whittington

 

Review by Paul Towers, 12/12/25

Dick Whittington devised & written by John Bale

Directed by John Bale

Produced by Leicester Drama Society

At The Little Theatre til Saturday 4^th January 2026

Christmas has officially started with The Little Theatre’s annual pantomime under way. This year’s offering is the evergreen tale of Dick Whittington, the almost true story of how a lowly man, Dick, trudges to London to find his fortune and ends up as Lord Mayor. Well, that’s the accepted story. Of course pantomime is not about the truth if it gets in the way of lots of fun.

Our Dick Whittington (Rose Adams) and his cat, Tommy, (Lyd Rushton) start their journey and soon meet the outrageous Alderman Sarah Fitzwarren (John Bale in his latest Dame incarnation) and her daughter Alice (Ellie Cassie), with whom he falls instantly in love.

The Alderman has a sidekick, Idle jack (Thom Jones), whose energy is only outstripped by his idiocy. The villain of the piece is the evil King Rat (Simon Butler) who is determined to take over London for his own nefarious ends.

For reasons that make little sense (this is panto, it doesn’t need to make sense!) they all set sail on the Saucy Sue for Morocco with Captain Cockle (Allen Smith) and Bill Cockle (Russell Webster) and get shipwrecked.

All sorts of extra characters  are played by an ensemble of singer/dancers choreographed by Caroline Walsh.

All this is explained to the audience by the exotic Spirit of The Bells (Keiran Wheelan-Newby) in traditional rhyming couplets.

Right from the start the Alderman and Idle Jack have the audience in the palms of their hands and the booing, hissing and behind you’s are on cue. The largely junior audience members had a whale of a time, which is as it should be. Pantomime is often a youngster’s first experience of live theatre and this most traditional of pantomimes is a perfect introduction.

Dick Whittington runs at The Little Theatre until Saturday 4^th January 2026

Pics: Jonathan Pryke

https://thelittletheatre.co.uk/

https://ptheatre.blogspot.com/ 

The Sound of Music

 

Review by Paul Towers, 27/11/25

The Sound of Music book by Howard Lindsay & Russel Crouse. Music by Richard Rogers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II

Directed by Nikolai Foster

Produced by Curve

At Curve til Saturday 17th January 2026

From the moment that the Preludium started and the Nuns of Nonnberg Abbey slowly  emerged from under the stage and out of the wings it was obvious that this production of The Sound of Music would be spectacular.

There were gasps from the audience as the curtain rose to reveal the full splendour of the set. Michael Taylor has created an amazing edifice of a mountainside rearing up from the back of the stage which enables members of the cast to run up and down the mountain. It even has a series of pools with water in. What adds to the spectacle are the birch trees scattered across the landscape. The other main feature of the set is the now traditional spiral staircase. In this case it is wound round a tower of medieval splendour.

The aforementioned nuns are lead by Mother Abbess (Joanna Riding) as she unsuccessfully battles to rein in the exuberance of Maria (Molly Lynch using her native Irish accent to add a further layer to the character’s free spirit).

Sent off to be temporary governess to Captain Von Trapp’s (David Eadon-Young) children Maria quickly allies herself with the youngsters and eventually catches the eye of the widowed Captain, much to the chagrin of his fiancée Elsa Shraeder (Faye Brooks).

Eventually Maria and the Captain are married and Elsa retreats to Vienna.

As the storm clouds of Nazism gather (cleverly illustrated by Hitler’s soldiers gathering along the skyline on the mountain) there is confusion in the household as to the best course of action. Max Detweiler (Minal Patel) the Captain’s best friend, champions acquiescence even if he doesn’t agree with the policies, while Von Trapp insists on escaping with his family to safety. Thus the scene is set for the family to travel over the Alps to safety.

The success of this show rests on the children and Nikolai Foster has got three teams of youngsters playing the various children to great effect. 

A large ensemble of actor/dancers along with two teams of the Community Company ensure the stage is full to overflowing and the live orchestra of 11 provides a full sound to the score. 

The Sound of Music runs til Saturday 17 th January 2026 

Pics: Marc Brenner 

www.curveonline.co.uk

https://ptheatre.blogspot.com/ 

Things I know to be true

 Review by Paul Towers, 10/11/25

Things I Know To Be True by Andrew Bovell

Directed by Nadine Beasley

Produced by Leicester Drama Society

At The Little Theatre til Saturday 15th November 2025

Things I Know To Be True is a family drama set in Australia. Thankfully director Nadine Beasley has chosen not to attempt authentic accents.

The Price family, two parents and their four children, live in a nice suburban house in Adelaide. Father, Bob, (Paul Beasley) was recently made redundant and has retreated to his garden to occupy himself while his wife, Fran (Nicky Mewer) works as a nurse and organises the entire family. Youngest son, Mark (Joe Allen), is in the throes of leaving his wife while, coincidentally, eldest daughter Pip (Kate Carey) wants to leave her husband and move to Vancouver.

Eldest son, Ben (Richie Phillips), arrives with an extravagant car and a suspiciously vague source of funding it. Youngest daughter, Rosie (Sophie Johnston) has returned unexpectedly from her gap year travelling around Europe and is reluctant to say why. All of this puts Mother Fran in a spin and she goes into Mom-zilla mode demanding Rosie gives her every detail of what went wrong.

But it isn’t just Rosie who gets both barrels of her over-protectiveness. Both Pip and Mark are castigated for failing in their respective marriages as she expects them to follow their parents’ example and plough through any hiccups in their relationships.

By pushing so hard at her family Fran exposes the cracks both in her relationship with them but also with her husband.

While this all sounds quite heavy there are lighter moments and director Nadine Beasley has managed to squeeze quite a few laughs out along the way. As always with Leicester Drama Society productions the acting is first rate.

Things I Know To Be True runs at The Little Theatre until Saturday 15^th November.

Pics: Jonathan Pryke

https://thelittletheatre.co.uk/

https://ptheatre.blogspot.com/ 

Death on the Nile

 

Review by Paul Towers, 5/1/5

Agatha Christies’ Death On The Nile, adapted by Ken Ludwig

Directed by Lucy Bailey

Produced by Fiery Angel

At Royal & Derngate, Northampton until Saturday 8^th November 2025

While I enjoyed Fiery Angel’s recent production of Murder On The Orient Express I was disappointed that Hercule Poirot was not played with a Belgian accent. Death On The Nile by the same producers rectifies that. Mark Hadfield’s Belgian detective is everything you could want from the treasured Christie sleuth.  Chubby,  heavily accented and moustachioed, he is perfect.

Set aboard an Egyptian Nile steamer which is returning a pharaoh’s sarcophagus to its rightful resting place, an eclectic mix of passengers join Poirot and his chum Colonel Race.

As with many Christies stage adaptions there is a diva (Glynis Barbers’s Salome Otterbourne), a spoilt brat (Libby Alexandra-Cooper’s Linnet Doyle) and a hunky love interest (Nye Occomore’s Simon Doyle, recently married to Linnet). There is also Simon’s vengeful ex, Jaqueline De Bellefort (Esme Hough) to add to the line-up of potential murderers, people who have been wronged by Linnet’s father.

The script by Ken Ludwig is full of knowing nods for Christie fans and doesn’t take itself particularly seriously.

The set by Mike Britton is astonishing, huge slatted panels that slide across and a balcony housing bedrooms.

Altogether a very entertaining production and worth catching as it continues to tour

https://ptheatre.blogspot.com/ 

To Kill A Mockingbird

 

Review by Paul Towers, 28/10/25

Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, adapted by Arron Sorkin

Directed by Bartlett Sher

Produced by Jonathan Church Theatre Productions

At Curve til Saturday 1^st November 2025

To Kill A Mockingbird is essentially about racial tension in a small American Deep South town in the 1930’s, a time when ‘blacks knew their place’. There are two black characters in the story, neither of whom have much to say.

Tom Robinson (Aaron Shosanya), a disabled black farmhand is falsely accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell (Evie Hargreaves) and is put on trial.

Atticus Finch (Richard Coyle) is a run-of-the-mill small-town lawyer mostly used to dealing with minor disputes and sundry legal matters. On the advice of Sheriff Heck Tate (Colin C Campbell) and Judge Taylor (Stephen Boxer) he agrees to represent Robinson as he is convinced of his innocence. His judgement may be clouded slightly by the fact that his household is ruled over by old coloured retainer Calpurnia (Andrea Davy) who may or may not be closer to Atticus than he wants to admit.

In order to bridge the gaps in the narrative Finch’s children Jem (Gabriel Scott) and Scout (Anna Munden) along with their frenetic friend Dill (Dylan Malyn) break the fourth wall.

Mayella’s father, Bob (Oscar Pearce) jumps to all sorts of conclusions and whips up the local chapter of ‘The Klan’ into a lynch mob.

A large ensemble, both front and back stage, ensure that the impressive set by Miriam Buether moves seamlessly around Curve’s huge stage.

Harper Lee’s insight into the bigotry and prejudices of almost 100 years ago still resonate. This is a powerful indictment of what was and may, scarily, become again.

To Kill a Mockingbird is at Curve until Saturday 1^st November and then continues to tour.

Pics: Johan Persson

https://www.mockingbirdplay.com/tour

www.curveonline.co.uk

https://ptheatre.blogspot.com/