Victory for the rat in a Royal performance.

The pantomime season is drawing to a close and Dick Whittington was the Theatre Royal, Lincoln’s Christmas offering. Starring, once again, Cannon and Ball, the veteran comedians presided over the usual cacophony of Christmas cracker jokes, ad libs and pretty dancers.


We felt this years Panto was a bit of a slow burner although King Rat, played by Peter Amory, Emmerdale’s Chris Tate, was straight into the role with a marvellous portrayal of the typical slapstick baddie, the rich timbre of his voice no doubt aided by the impressive number of fags he got through at the after show party at the Bombay Restaurant. He reacted well with both children and adults, me included who were enthusiastically booing the character, giving the actor lots of opportunity to do some impromptu gags of his own.

There was the usual mixture of bad acting and surprisingly good dancing from the cast with two winsome leading dancers, the mermaid scene giving a particular eyeful for lovers of the female form, not that we were concentrating on that, you understand. (Oh yes you were!)

Eventually even slow burners get going and the show perked up enormously when a huge galleon made an appearance on the stage containing the whole main cast and the show drew to a close with the usual mix of communal singing and a very spectacular finale leaving the audience in no doubt of the need to book to see next, or rather this years show which is to be Robin Hood and will once again feature the former TV favourites, Cannon and Ball.

On to the Bombay then for our traditional after the show meal and once again the cast were there for what looked like an end of run meal. Last year we were lucky enough to have a chat with Bobby Ball and he was in attendance with his showbiz partner Tommy Cannon and a large party including Peter Amory making frequent visits outside.

No chat this year although we did have a couple of words with the duo who were, as expected, charm itself. We let them know we would be back for next Christmas’s show. I would recommend you do so yourself, you could even rope in a couple of kids although it’s not essential.