A different and hilarious spin on a theatre classic
Royal Court’s fifteenth Christmas special in a row, The Scouse Dick Whittington is more of a musical comedy than the traditional pantomime (and is definitely far more explicit than its namesake) but it does both its music and comedy spectacularly well.
The story is presumably widely known at this point – it is a common pantomime performance. But the story of Dick’s quest for mayor – transplanted from London to Merseyside in this instance – is largely a vehicle here for the jokes, which are not only excellent, but also relentless. They come thick and fast, from both dialogue and lyrics and had the audience (myself included) laughing aloud whenever possible. As the title of the play suggests, though, the humour is largely Liverpool-centric. Whilst this is by no means a barrier to the comedy, those unfamiliar with the area and its recent history may find themselves a little confused from time to time at some of the more opaque gags.
As the curtain rose, before the actors have even taken the stage it is apparent that the set is both constructed and will be utilised remarkably efficiently. All the time, as the multitude of set alterations and scene changes unfolded, even the relatively smaller space of the Royal Court provided practically no hindrance to either the stage band or to prop and set changes throughout.
Throughout the performance the actors themselves use this stage to its fullest, and this level of presence meant that the script – at times clever, at times crude, always hilarious – can shine, thanks to almost flawless delivery and command of the material. Their comfortability also means that inevitable small mistakes (a late change or a prop malfunction, for instance) don’t detract in the slightest from the pacing or the humour, bolstering how extraordinarily self-aware every facet of the script already is.
Standouts amongst the cast most definitely included Adam McCoy’s Dick and Andrew Schofield, who reprised several roles but most notably King Rat, often stealing the scene despite a more limited outing than some others.
As the play begins, the first thing that strikes you is the sheer energy of this performance. The jokes start almost immediately, and are delivered sharply and confidently by the entire cast. The live band are always as much a part of the performance as the actors – a result of the ingenious set design by Olivia du Monceau – and the music choices are both fitting and fittingly energetic to kick off the play, setting the tone for the first act.
Things admittedly slow down a little at the start of the second act – the choices of music are deliberately more sedate and one or two scenes even feel like they might run on a little too long, but before too long though the pace is right back to where it was before. The quickfire jokes return and the music circles back to a similar place as the first half – an eclectic yet never out of place mix of classic rock and pop tunes from across the last fifty years.
In fact by the end of the performance the energy is, surprisingly, maybe even higher than at the off and simply does not let up. With this jolt to the script, cast, and audience, a concise round up and an ensemble musical number serve to round out what is, overall, a wonderful comedy production that had me wondering where the time went.