Clive Rowe is the best panto dame in London, probably the world, and this year he’s somehow gotten better. That’s not to say his shtick has changed much. But his daming persona – a lusty maneater with a voice to die for and a black belt in audience interaction – remains peerless. And for 2024 costume designer Cleo Pettitt has gone absolutely nuts with a remarkable, absurd and, above all, extremely funny series of outfits for Rowe’s Sarah the Cook that range from ludicrously OTT frocks to a mountingly bizarre series of inanimate objects: a till, a bed, a passenger cruise ship.
There is, however, a danger to Rowe’s dominance. While it would be fair to say that in his two-odd decades of doing the Hackney panto he has generally been the best thing about it, this year’s Dick Whittington is the first in which there’s the worry that he’s the only thing about it. The golden age of the panto was under former Empire artistic director Susie McKenna, who wrote, directed and occasionally starred alongside Rowe – politicised, imaginative shows that engaged with the events and pop music of the day.
Since Rowe took over as director and permanent star (he used to have the odd year off) the shows have lost their political edge, but have been brisk, bright and felt like they’re showcasing a multitude of talents. This 2024 Dick Whittington, however, is long, with a fairly bland script from Will Brenton, based on ideas by him and Rowe. The rest of the cast make little impression. Graham Macduff’s Rob Halford-alike King Rat is a fun idea visually (he plays air guitar on his tail) but the character is never as much fun as he looks; likeable Hackney panto regular Kat D usually has the seasonal sauce, but this year feels like he’s been rather felled by nominative determinism: Kat has been cast as Dick’s cat, and he struggles to make the usual impression in the virtually non-speaking role.
Where big rivals like the Lyric and Stratford East panto are forever trying out interesting new creatives, and the Palladium mega-panto offers a sea of huge names, this really does feel like a one-man-in-a-dress show. Even the songs – ‘60s and ‘70s pop plus a fleeting Chappell Road allusion – speak of a show locked in a timeless comfort zone.
And that is fine! I can be a little cynical because I’ve probably seen Rowe dame at least ten times. But the man is a force of nature and seeing him in his new costumes is kind of akin to when Iron Man deploys some spectacular new suit. Of course he upstages everyone else, and you’ll have a great time seeing him do it. Nonetheless: during the McKenna era he’d sometimes take a Christmas off, and the panto was solid – often pretty great – without him. If he were to go now, I’m not sure there would be much left.