Dick Whittington and His Cat

This Christmas will be the twenty-fifth Hackney Empire panto since the iconic East London venue turned back into a theatre after a stint as a bingo hall, and well over half of those productions (17 to be precise) have involved Clive Rowe, who is back for 2025 as director and as London’s most iconic dame. There’s no other casting announced yet, though Hackney rarely casts celebrities and tends to have a posse of regulars (comedian Kat B inevitably features). There’s no word on how the timeless tale of Dick and his cat will be interpreted, though the Hackney panto tends to have a good-natured local focus and a real sense of grounding in east London.