Thurso Players to live stream sold-out panto Dick Wickington – A Caithness Pantomime
The popular panto in Thurso has sold out – but you can still join in the festive fun thanks to a live stream option being made available this weekend.
Organisers said the Thurso Players performance of Dick Wickington – A Caithness Pantomime by John F Glen sold out so quickly they had to bring their new HD streaming set-up into use.
This gives people the opportunity to watch from the comfort of their own home by booking access to the live streams at either 2pm or 7pm on Saturday, December 17.
The panto features all the traditional character types including the main character, Dick, his long-suffering widowed, Aunty Meg (the dame), a pair of silly cousins, Wullie and Boaby, and of course the forces of good and evil, the good Olrig Sith (a Celtic Fairy) and evil Queen Rat and her two Rat assistants.
Mix in the love interest Alice McGlumpher (Freya Jackson), her dad Bailie McGlumpher (Glyn Jackson), the Emperor of China (Alan Newton) and a chorus of farmers, dockers, sailors and courtiers, and you have a story to tell.
Dick Wickington is played by Faith Charlton and assisted by Puss the family cat (Ola Omand). They find themselves at The Mart in Caithness to sell their sheep. Due to a wee problem with radioactive pipes used to repair the mart pens by Wullie (Rachael Haddlesey) and Boaby (Maeva Donaldson) Dick is sent on a quest to save the beasts and the Mart.
Poor widowed Aunty Meg (Martin Shepherd) and the Olrig Sith (Faye Sutherland) follow on to help.
Lots of daft things done by Wullie and Boaby, the family idiots, keep us on our toes. The family are pursued by evil Queen Rat (Clare Bonner) and her hench rats (Eoin Glen and Jonathan Nicol).
So from Caithness to Aberdeen to far Cathay (China) they go, overcoming adversity caused by Queen Rat and the accident-prone twins Wullie and Boaby. Along the way a spell turns Puss into a Kung Fu expert, Superpuss (Bernadette Nicol).
The main cast are supported by an amazing chorus of singing and dancing young members of the Players. Many of the musical numbers are played live by members of the cast on ukulele, fiddles, piano and bodhran.
“The team effort by the cast has been amazing,” said writer and director John F Glen. “The backstage work of the production teams in wardrobe, props, sound, light and visual graphics has been so slick, it is a pleasure to become redundant when it all goes onstage and audiences go wild.”
Two local cameos from Cllr Matthew Reiss and Mrs Glynis Mackay make it fun, and Mount Pleasant Farm, kindly became “The Mart” for some video filming.
Bookings for the live stream can be made by visiting the Thurso Players website at www.thursoplayers.org.uk