When it comes to smutty seasonal fun, Stuart Saint and his team of cohorts are the authority.
Dick is without doubt the slickest, filthiest and funniest show you’re likely to see this Christmas, or indeed ever.
There may be no shortage of Christmas shows for the over 18's of late, but the crew over at Leicester Square Theatre are the ones raising the bar. While others are knocking one out in modest fringe venues, this is a proper show in a 400-seater with production values to match. This Dick has girth.
Dick regulars will recognise the bones of the show. Evil Queen Runt (Lucy Grainger) is trying to buy up property in S’HoHo, with only sex shop owner Sofonda Cox (Dusty ‘O’) left to swindle out of her title deeds. Satyric hero Dick (Rhys Owen) and his suave cat Dave (Rae Brogen) arrive on the scene whereupon Dick immediately falls for Sofonda’s busty niece, Alice Fitznicely (Rachael Born). Helping them along to a happy ending is Fairy Bell-End (Paula Masterton). If some of those names seem familiar to aficionados of the adult panto in Leicester Square, it’s because the main line up is identical to last year. Indeed the only change in cast is Edward Saunders joining Travis Sumner as the scantily-clad ensemble that provide the choreographic support to the antics upstage.
In between the filthy words are equally filthy songs, with the return of perennial favourites Hot, Wet Pussy, If I Was Not Upon The Stage and When You’re At Sea. There is, of course, the traditional panto sing-a-long delivered with the trademark self-awareness that Saint and company have perfected.
With so much the same it’s reasonable to ask what’s different? Well, gentle reader, everything’s changed. Saint hasn’t just shoehorned a few contemporary references into last year’s book, but re-tooled the entire thing and the show is pleasingly tighter for it. His self-knowing script leaves no obscenity unmolested; no opportunity for a knob gag ungrabbed. Onstage chemistry is as intoxicating as you’d expect for a cast who know each other this intimately and are handling such ribald material, and Dalh Haynes’ choreography ensures the action moves along at such a pace that the resulting cocktail is quite breathtaking.
Dick is without doubt the slickest, filthiest and funniest show you’re likely to see this Christmas, or indeed ever.
