Dick Whittington might be the hero of this year’s Inverurie panto – but it’s his cat who’s bringing a touch of Broadway and Muppet magic to the town hall.
Because the show’s producer, Keith Donaldson, called in expert help to bring Dick’s feline friend to glorious life for the festive treat, which makes its debut on Thursday December 8.
“We always like to do something a little bit special so our cat, who’s called Garioch, is actually a puppet in the style of the Broadway show Avenue Q, with actor Emmah Chibesakunda playing the part,” he said.
“We had a lady called Sue Dacre, a very experienced puppeteer who has worked with all the greats – Jim Henson, Brian Henson, Frank Oz – come up and train with Emma getting her skills at puppeteering up to speed.
Garioch the cat will engage with kids during Dick Whittington in Inverurie
“It’s been a lot of fun getting the character to be fun and interesting and able to engage with kids in the show. So it is a touch of Broadway/Muppet magic, 100%.”
However, Emma and Garioch aren’t the only ones working magic on stage for Dick Whittington – Keith said he has a superbly talented cast, the cream of the north-east community arts scene, lined up and raring to go with a show for all the family.
“Gavin McKay returns and he’s playing Sarah The Cook, our Dame. We have Rhianne Armstrong and Rachael Henderson playing the Fairy Beau-Belle and a newcomer to our panto, Cara Sutherland who is playing Dick Whittington, plus Kevin Littlejohn, playing King Rat,” said Keith.
“Kevin, for example, is professionally trained and toured with Broadway and West End productions in the UK. It’s a heady mix of somewhere between professional and amateur.”
Keith prides himself on creating a panto that raises the bar year after year and gives some of the professional outings a run for their money.
Dick Whittington goes back to roots as traditional family panto
Key to that success is using traditional panto as a touchstone – something which Dick Whittington very much does.
“When I say traditional, we like to have a real story about it. That’s key to everything. Then we build on top of that and try to inject a lot of laughs and humour,” said Keith.
“We have our traditional audience participation song, which is always in Doric just to keep Doric alive which is so important here in the north-east. And we make sure the story has a good happy ending.”
One of the great joys of panto is the way the cast on stage look like they are having effortless fun. But that takes a lot of hard work.
“There is a huge amount of effort and it’s a year-round thing – we’ve started working on next year’s panto already.
“But we love it. We all have day jobs, I’m a software engineer, one of the directors is a teacher, the other is a lawyer, but we do this for the fun – and I think that comes across in the performance.
Hard work and fun will pay off for Dick Whittington audiences
Keith hopes all that fun and hard work pays off for the audience, which will see everyone from little kids to grandparents flock to Inverurie Town Hall.
“I hope they come away having laughed a lot, enjoyed themselves and whistling one or two of the tunes we have – there are some real earworms in there,” he said.
“But life’s kind of hard just now. We’ve come through Covid, we’re in a cost-of-living crisis and there’s a lot going on in the world. We just hope people can come out and enjoy themselves for a couple of hours and get in the festive spirit.
“That’s the magic of panto and it transcends everything.”
Panto fans flocking to Dick Whittington will not only have a good time but also be doing good at the same time. As always, the Inverurie Panto is supporting a good cause this year.
Dick Whittington panto is supporting Charlie House
“This year we are working with Charlie House, so they have a whole bunch of tickets for families to come and see the show. We will be doing a bucket collection for them so when the audience leaves, in return for a sweetie they can drop some change into a bucket and support what is a fantastic charity.”
Dick Whittington runs at Inverurie Town Hall from Thursday December 8 to Christmas Eve. For information and tickets go to inveruriepanto.com
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