Phoenix Musical Theatre 
Barrington Centre, Ferndown 
John Sivewright 
9 October 2025
There’s a pantomime in October? Oh yes, there is! Christmas has come early in Ferndown with Phoenix Musical Theatre’s production of Dick Whittington. The witty, homegrown script, from the pen of Alice Weller (who also played Dick), full of dad jokes aplenty, followed a traditional plotline while bringing us a Lady Fitzwarren and Queen Rat, giving some of the ladies in the group a chance to shine.
Alice as Dick and Marie Cormack as Alice Fitzwarren were a splendid leading couple, with strong chemistry and beautiful singing. Marion Colmer simply revelled in the role of nasty Queen Rat, enjoying her banter with the audience, while Mike Jones in the vital part of panto dame, Betty Bogpot, was delightfully costumed and made-up, making the most of his many double-entendres.
Impressive supporting performances came from Sally Blythe as a cheeky Frankie Bogpot, Kelsey Pickett as Jess the Cat (the role is shared with Abbie Curcic throughout the run), who is one to watch for the future, Hayden Ashburton-Dunning and Jordan Small as knockabout Nip and Tuck (they made a highly amusing comic duo!) and Marie Coltman brought a welcome energy and polish to the role of Captain Tin Foil in Act Two.
The production was greatly enhanced by a young, enthusiastic and splendidly choreographed chorus who made the most of their appearances, especially in the musical numbers. The show benefited from colourful costumes, simple but effective staging and good lighting and sound effects, although the latter suffered with frequent late raising of principal’s microphones when they entered the stage, leading to some lines being unfortunately lost. Some scene changes were slow; perhaps if more action was played front of tabs, it would allow some of the scenery shifting to be done simultaneously out of sight to keep the show moving along?
Perhaps due to first night nerves the prompt played a larger role in proceedings than one would have hoped, meaning the show didn’t have the zip in places that panto needs but, on the whole, the principals rose to their respective challenges and delivered memorable characterisations. Hopefully the uncertainty over lines will clear up during the run and all cast will relax into their roles and enjoy the rich comedy and fun the script gives them.
It would be remiss of me not to mention the song choices, which were fantastic and fit perfectly, highlights including ‘Rat Outta Hell’, ‘Wolves of the Sea’, ‘Up Where We Belong’ (complete with highly amusing interruptions from Frankie) and ‘If I Were Not In Pantomime’.
The creative team of Charlotte Prosser and Chris Brennan (Co-Directors), Alice Weller (Choreographer), and Lee Redwood (Musical Director) have clearly worked hard to put the cast through their paces and should be proud of the final product. A lot of hard work has gone into this production and, if you fancy some festive cheer early this year, you’d do well to catch one of the remaining performances, as Dick Whittington runs at the Barrington Theatre on Friday 10 October and with two performances, matinee and evening, on Saturday.
