Above the Stag, London
The gags come thick and fast in this bawdy adult panto, which is set in a funeral parlour and channels Joe Orton
Who loves Dick? It’s hard not to in the bawdy adult panto from Jon Bradfield and Martin Hooper. Dick Whittington: A New Dick in Town, the duo’s 12th, thrives on the pleasurable clash between smart and stupid. There are insanely clever puns, a grab-bag of cultural references (Nicki Minaj, Extinction Rebellion, The Archers) and tireless merry-making with the hero’s name: “The things I’ve done for Dick!”
Our naive but sexually ravenous hero (Jonny Peyton-Hill) has come with his pink-tracksuited pug, Ariana, to seek his fortune in London, where, as someone puts it, “the streets are paved”. He falls in with Alex (Keanu Adolphus Johnson), the cocksure son of an undertaker whose business is struggling. Glistening in his Pearly King cap and waistcoat, Alex flogs knocked-off vaccines and believes himself to be the Spirit of London (“It’s an unpaid position”).
