In our 101 Reasons to Love the Cotswolds collection, REVIEW: Tweedy inspires another crackerjack panto at the Everyman stands out as a reminder that the area is about much more than pretty views.
So, whether you are planning a visit or simply enjoying a little Cotswold inspiration, we hope this helps you understand why REVIEW: Tweedy inspires another crackerjack panto at the Everyman deserves its place in the list.
03/12/2017
The annual panto at the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham has increasingly become an essential Christmas treat for thousands of people from Gloucestershire and beyond.
And the audience of children – and the young at heart – who witnessed Friday night’s performance of Dick Whittington and his Cat, may well agree that this is the best one yet.
And the audience of children – and the young at heart – who witnessed Friday night’s performance of Dick Whittington and his Cat, may well agree that this is the best one yet.
The show is built on a winning formula, being the 11th at the Everyman written and directed by Phil Clark.
It has all the usual tried-and-tested ingredients – including a fantastic cast delivering catchy songs, barrels of laughs, and some outstanding slapstick comedy.
The person responsible for the lion’s share of the laughs is the show’s jewel in the crown, Tweedy the clown, performing in his sixth panto at the Everyman.
Tweedy delighted the audience with his masterly ability to make everyday items – be it his pet iron called ‘Keith’, or a stepladder used while trying to change a light bulb – extraordinarily funny.
The storyline is almost secondary to the main aim of the panto – to make everyone constantly smile until their mouths ache.
It’s a variation of the well-known story of Gloucestershire boy Dick Whittington (Molly McGuire) travelling to London to seek his fortune and falling in love with Alice (Ruth Betteridge), daughter of Alderman Fitzwarren (Simon Stanhope).
But with London infested with rats, led by ghastly King Rat (Andrew Westfield), there was plenty of work for Tommy the Cat to do. Ben Goffe was just purr-fect for the feline role.
With Dick wrongly accused of stealing the Alderman’s fortune, the show suddenly took on a nautical theme as the cast set sail for distant shores and most of the second half was spent at sea.
This provided a terrific excuse for even more clowning around.
Sarah the Cook (Mark Roper) shared a hilarious scene with Tweedy doing a culinary cook-off and there was huge fun to be had in the seemingly innocuous cabin-naming scene when the cast apparently went hilariously off-script.
Tweedy, playing the part of the hapless Rat Catcher, was at the centre of most of the biggest belly laughs. One of my favourite lines of the show was when the radio music was being switched on an off to avoid the Alderman’s wrath. The Alderman suddenly shouted: “Turn it on!” and Tweedy proceeded to lie down beside the radio, saying: “Oh, you’re so beautiful…”
I thought the Everyman panto was first-class, but who am I to judge it? The acid test is what the children thought, so on leaving, I asked my six-year-old son Noah (who is now a veteran of five pantomimes) what he made of it. “It was the best ever!” he declared.
David Wood
Dick Whittington and His Cat runs at the Everyman until Sunday, January 7.
It has all the usual tried-and-tested ingredients – including a fantastic cast delivering catchy songs, barrels of laughs, and some outstanding slapstick comedy.
The person responsible for the lion’s share of the laughs is the show’s jewel in the crown, Tweedy the clown, performing in his sixth panto at the Everyman.
Tweedy delighted the audience with his masterly ability to make everyday items – be it his pet iron called ‘Keith’, or a stepladder used while trying to change a light bulb – extraordinarily funny.
The storyline is almost secondary to the main aim of the panto – to make everyone constantly smile until their mouths ache.
It’s a variation of the well-known story of Gloucestershire boy Dick Whittington (Molly McGuire) travelling to London to seek his fortune and falling in love with Alice (Ruth Betteridge), daughter of Alderman Fitzwarren (Simon Stanhope).
But with London infested with rats, led by ghastly King Rat (Andrew Westfield), there was plenty of work for Tommy the Cat to do. Ben Goffe was just purr-fect for the feline role.
With Dick wrongly accused of stealing the Alderman’s fortune, the show suddenly took on a nautical theme as the cast set sail for distant shores and most of the second half was spent at sea.
This provided a terrific excuse for even more clowning around.
Sarah the Cook (Mark Roper) shared a hilarious scene with Tweedy doing a culinary cook-off and there was huge fun to be had in the seemingly innocuous cabin-naming scene when the cast apparently went hilariously off-script.
Tweedy, playing the part of the hapless Rat Catcher, was at the centre of most of the biggest belly laughs. One of my favourite lines of the show was when the radio music was being switched on an off to avoid the Alderman’s wrath. The Alderman suddenly shouted: “Turn it on!” and Tweedy proceeded to lie down beside the radio, saying: “Oh, you’re so beautiful…”
I thought the Everyman panto was first-class, but who am I to judge it? The acid test is what the children thought, so on leaving, I asked my six-year-old son Noah (who is now a veteran of five pantomimes) what he made of it. “It was the best ever!” he declared.
David Wood
Dick Whittington and His Cat runs at the Everyman until Sunday, January 7.
