○Someday, there might be a panto where the story gets as much attention (if not half as much) as the young lady's dress, and the romance between the main boy and his lover isn't as flat as the background. Hackney's Dick Whittington is no such punt. No, this is a movie starring Clive Lowe, currently conceived and directed by London's most famous woman.
Lowe is the king/queen of everything he investigates here, ruling a rat-infested London, a ship on the high seas, and a deserted island populated by beatniks who are rich for no reason. (One would expect a pop song in a panto, but the blissful Beatles album song “Sun King'' is not one of them.)
Despite Graham McDuff's ZZ Top-like King Rat's best efforts to sink our heroes five fathoms deep in the second act, this is enough to keep this punt ship afloat. There's some lively crowd work, including Lowe tormenting his hapless father in a stall. There are some great set-pieces, including a slapstick scene where daughter Sarah the Cook repeatedly takes off her fellow sailor's pants. These dresses (costumed by Cleo Pettit) will not disappoint. Lowe appears variously as a cash register, a pepper shaker (“I got it at Grindle”), and a cruise liner, with cabin lights twinkling, as do Lowe's eyes throughout.
Children will be delighted. The middle child strained for the cute one to be thrown, the younger one cowered from the mice, and the eldest bragged about finding out who was the bad guy early in the morning. Some may hope for another performance that can steal the spotlight from Lowe, but their hopes are in vain. Kandaka Moore's hero may be brave and wholesome, but it would be an insult to telecommunications to say that Dick and Alice's romance is depicted over the phone. Another Hackney stalwart, Cat B, has a good time as Dick's magical moggy, and pest control casts doubt on the spirit of the joyful ensemble as the briefly recovered show dissolves into song and dance at the end. There's no room. Like pantos, they aren't paved with gold, but they do sparkle every now and then.
