Review by Paul Towers, 13/12/25
Dick Whittington additional script by Janice
Dunn, Jarred Christmas & Jack Ballard
Directed by Janice Dunn
Produced by Imagine Theatre
At DeMontfort Hall til Saturday 3rd
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 3rd January 2026. Grab a ticket for a fun filled
evening of family frolics.
https://www.demontforthall.co.uk/
https://ptheatre.blogspot.com/
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