Dick Whittington - Harrow Arts Centre - Review

The festive season in the UK comes with plenty of traditions, from the famous Christmas dinner, crackers, television specials and lights, to travel chaos, overcrowded shops and adverts that don’t always make sense, but perhaps one of the most iconic festive traditions is the good old fashioned pantomime, with its cheesy lines, pop favourites, familiar gags and water pistols, guaranteed to bring a smile to the face to even the most scrooge like of audience members.

This year, it is the classic Dick Whittington that comes to the Harrow Arts Centre, complete with a digital backdrop, gags suitably relevant to the trends of 2025, brilliant costumes and a cast that work their socks off with the biggest smiles, great vocals and a true sense of fun and frivolity, even to a sadly small audience on a Friday lunchtime.

Dick Whittington (Harry Simmonds) comes to London with hopes of stardom and fame, meeting his new best friend Timmy the Tom Cat (Ben J Packer), falling in love with Alice (Tolia Uwalaka) and finding himself working in Cecily Sweetlove’s (Phillip McParland) sweetshop. But under the golden London streets lays a villain in waiting, King Rat (James Sygrove) and his gang of rats, determined to take over the city and take the mayorship from Mayor Naise (Alex Bloomer). It’s up to Dick, his new friends, and his fairy godmother Bowbells (Sam Carlyle) to save the day.

The fun begins before the official start time, with the cast mingling with the audience, joining in with dances with light up wands and swordfights, much to the delight of the children in audience and setting the tone for the show. This is about fun and silliness, with the vast majority of jokes landing well and the musical numbers earning great applause.

Harry Simmonds’ leading man Dick Whittington is charming and full of energy, with his partnership with Ben J Packer’s Timmy the Tom Cat endearing and full of fun as they bounce around the stage. Uwalaka’s Alice, whilst not a princess technically, wouldn’t look out of place in something by Disney, turning a Madness classic into a sweet song of love and devotion and winning over the audience with ease.

With costumes that range from a pick and mix bag to a sailor’s gown, Phillip McParland’s dame Cecily Sweetlove is an audience favourite, bringing out all the classic elements of the dame that we know and love, the flirting with someone in the front rows, cheeky jokes and multiple costume changes. What adds an extra element of joy to the dame here is an on stage romance as we see Cecily giggle and delight with every appearance of the jolly Mayor of London, Mayor Naise, played by Alex Bloomer. They make an adorable pair, falling into fits of giggles during a chocolate bar series of gags and making a grand old mess with cream pies during an extremely chaotic rendition of The 12 Days of Christmas. Bloomer, playing a much more cheerful role than the last time I saw him perform as the troubled Vincent Van Gogh in ‘Vagabond Skies’ at the Edinburgh Fringe, is utterly charming as the Mayor, everybody’s best friend and comically dramatic, earning great applause as he leads a wonderfully silly act 2 medley bringing together In The Navy, Macho Man and the YMCA.

Sam Carlye at Bowbells

Sam Carlyle plays fairy Bowbelles, celebrating everything good and showing Dick Whittington all the power that he has, bouncing off the bad guy energy of James Sygrove as the dastardly King Rat. Sygrove’s ‘Rat out of hell’ routine is a highlight and there is a great sense of joy around Carlyle’s every appearance.

The audience at the performance I attended may have been small, but every person there was entirely involved in the action, jumping at every opportunity to join in with the silliness. The cast work extremely hard but it is clear to see that they are loving every moment of it, delighting in the joy and hilarity of it all. There is something charming about these smaller venue pantos, a sense of community and magic that can’t be replicated in the bigger flashier productions.

Dick Whittington is old fashioned fun, alive with energy and sparks of theatrical magic for young and old, celebrating everything that there is to love about this British theatrical festive tradition.