Dick Whittington and His Cat, Hackney Empire Review

Max Mirza, Clive Rowe, Kandaka Moore, Tony Timberlake, Kat B and Aryana Ramkhalawon in Dick Whittington and His Cat.

Written by Chelsea for Theatre and Tonic

Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review

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Hackney Empire is no stranger to pantomimes, and with Clive Rowe still at the helm, you know you are in for a good time!

Will Brenton’s, Dick Whittington and His Cat, follows the classic tale of the real life English merchant Richard Whittington as he searches for a new life in London. Along the way we encounter all the beloved characters from the King Rat, played by Graham MacDuff, to Tommy the Cat, played by Kat B. With song and dance to your favourite hits across all genres, you will be singing and bopping along through the entire play.

Of course, the standout of the show is Clive Rowe’s portrayal of Sarah the Cook. With every costume change, improvised adlibs, and big belted numbers, he has you in stitches with the boisterousness of it all! However, Rowe’s big personality sometimes over shadows the storyline, and the play fell a bit flat when he was not on the stage. Not to say the actors were not fantastic. Their voices and acting were sublime, but the script just didn’t give them much to work with outside of the big musical numbers.

One thing that really failed throughout the show though was sound balancing. In moments of song or dialogue scenes between a few characters, you couldn’t hear them over the band or the sound effects. Jokes were missed and there was one song in particular between the Rat King and Fairy Bowbells where her voice was lost completely. For such an old venue as this, you would expect them to have the acoustics well figured out by now where this wouldn’t happen.

All in all, the show is a good time for friends and family this holiday season and it delivers what a panto should. It has the dame, all the classic callbacks, silly jokes, and sing alongs. If anything, it is worth seeing for Clive Rowe’s performance alone. 

At Hackney Empire until 5 January 2025

★★★.5