* Gifted – Live Stream

Photo credit: Mike Kwasniak

There’s still something slightly surreal about watching a live stream of a pantomime happening less than half an hour from where I live, but all in the comfort of my living room in my pyjamas – yet that’s exactly what I did tonight while watching the New Wolsey Theatre’s live stream of Dick Whittington and his Cat.

As far as live streams are concerned, it was a bit of a bad start with no sound in the first few minutes of the show and throughout I felt it was not the best sound quality nor did the lighting really compliment the performers. I understand how difficult these live streams are and that sometimes things do go wrong, but when you consider that people are paying for this, I think it’s important to get it right and do it well, and I just felt there was room for improvement. On the whole, it worked well and it is a wonderful way to make the show accessible around the world and connect people to live theatre.

Dick Whittington and his Cat is a new version of the classic family-favourite show, written by award-winning comedian, writer and composer, Vikki Stone. The script itself is quite strong, it follows the classic and iconic tropes of the story where you join the brave hero, Dick Whittington, on his journey to London to seek his fortune in the ultimate and beloved Rock ‘n’ Roll pantomime!

But of course, it isn’t all plain sailing as he has to find a way to outwit the evil King Rat, free the city from his team of revolting rodents, and win the hand of the one he loves. Along the way, there are a few new fun twists in the tale too – like a pirate water fight scene, because, well it is panto after all. Anything is possible!

This year, Ipswich can see a lot of new faces in the cast, which was nice to see – but sadly there weren’t any standouts for me. Though firm favourites Steve Simmonds and Elizabeth Rowe return again and continue to win over the local audience. Steve in particular makes a fantastic villain! There was great energy throughout, and you can see the cast and audience are having a lot of fun with the live music and crazy characters. As ever, there were lots of notable local references too, something which always amuses the audience!

While it was good fun, it sadly didn’t win me over; but it’s a family-friendly festive-themed night out (or night in, if you decide to stream it!), which will be purr-fect for those who really love Panto and fancy a night of crazy rock’n’roll fun.

Dick Whittington and his Cat runs at the New Wolsey Theatre until Sat 20 Jan 2024 and is live streaming until Sat 30 Dec 2023.