Dick McWhittington, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Glasgow
Mary Brennan, Four stars
“WE are fab-u-lous Weegies...!” Could the Pantosphere stage a more partisan opening number than this one? A real live-wire salute to the RCS’s home town of Glasgow, a merrily cosmopolitan city judging by the mix of far-travelled accents on-stage.
No mistaking where Fairy Alice (Rebekah Lumsden) hails from – the gallus accents are pure dead Barras, as she squares up to a Queen Rat (Charlotte Dreissler) a grungy rock chick who’s cruisin’ furra bruisin’.
Over the years that writer Alan McHugh and director Alasdair Hawthorn have been cooking up these pantos for final-year acting students, the outcome has been a litmus of available talents, and skills – a good dame, for instance, can be hard to find.
This year, the entire cast do McHugh’s inspired mix of salty-saucy humours proud, not least because of how Hawthorn knowingly pitches the delivery between proven tradition and contemporary style – spoofing One Direction’s pecs appeal while Dick (Jacob Vigeland) and Melody (Catherine Barr) veer towards snog-time with Story of My Life to have young audiences in a double squeal of fan-dom and fun.
All ages get plenty of laughs, from lovelorn Sandy (Nicholas Barton-Wines in daftly lovable numpty mode) while Robert Ginty has the knack of being a classic McHugh dame – slightly suggestive in the drawl of a double entendre or the body language of a come-on, his Senga avoids smut.
Meanwhile, the cat’s whiskers, and all furry feline traits, come together purrfectly in Chloe-Ann Tylor’s Kitty while Robin People’s whimsical designs don’t just float this panto’s boat, they bring it on-stage – fab-u-lous!
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