by Kirby Lindsay, posted 29 November 2013
This December, the Fremont Players and the Fremont Philharmonic Orchestra will once again celebrate the holidays with a traditional staging of British Panto at Hale’s Palladium. This year, they’ve chosen to produce the most traditional of traditional Panto stories.
On weekends from December 7th – January 5th, audiences of all ages can enjoy ‘Dick Whittington and his Cat.’ “It is a famous British folk tale,” explained Myron Sizer, “It is the most famous of all Pantos. It is the daddy of all Pantos!”
A Tradition of Happiness
“What it’s all about is to make people happy,” Sizer said of British Panto – and the Fremont Players, “It’s about happiness; a holiday tradition of happiness.” Sizer, a member of the Fremont Players for the past five or six years, researched and wrote the script for this year’s production. “There’s no end of interesting resources to look to,” he said, about Dick Whittington and the panto shows about him. According to Sizer, the internet teems with video snippets of children in rural British town productions performing as dancing rats. “Every kid in England knows ‘Dick Whittington and his Cat,’” Sizer observed.
While not known for possessing a serious side, the Fremont Players do take the Panto tradition seriously. “This is the most ambitious Panto we’ve ever done,” Sizer reported. While ‘Dick Whittington…’ was a real person, when his story is told as a British Panto it must be shared with certain conventions. “Truth and justice,” Sizer explained, “Evil is eaten by crocodiles, while good triumphs!”
“We have a magical fairy,” Sizer explained, “and a cabal of rats, determined to take over the world.” Maque daVis will play ‘The Dame’, a man dressed as a woman – in this case, the Baker’s Wife (Sizer plays The Baker.) The character of ‘Dick Whittington’ will be played by Katy Webber – a woman. Another British Panto convention is the ‘slop scene.’ “Normally it involves throwing water in people’s faces, or a punch,” Sizer explained, and will take the play into a physical, farcical place.
With an invitation to the audience to shout, boo and hiss, the play will contain betrayal, romance, and action, with singing and dancing, ships sinking and underwater adventure, a prize fight and, of course, ghosts. “You never run a Panto without ghosts,” Sizer observed, seriously.
A True Story
Still, underneath it all, this is a story of a real person but, “the real story doesn’t translate much,” Sizer acknowledged, “the young man comes to seek his fortune, and rises up to be Lord Mayor of London. It’s about a young man, seeking his fame and fortune,” Sizer explained about the real story, “It’s Horatio Alger.”
Once upon a time, a country boy named Richard Whittington moved to London, with his cat Tommy, and became a merchant and politician, and the sheriff and Lord Mayor. He performed philanthropic works with his growing fortune and influence, including funding drainage systems in London’s poorer areas and building a hospital ward for unwed mothers. The ‘Charity of Sir Richard Whittington’ has survived, and continues to do good, 600 years later.
Sizer speaks with great respect of the accomplishments of Whittington, but he knows that essentially the Players want to entertain. “The core is somebody comes, and succeeds,” Sizer said of the Panto, “the add-on is that his cat comes along and helps him.”
A Look Around
Sizer came to Fremont, but he came later in life with a background, and interest, in theater. “I got a divorce in 1999,” he explained. “I looked around,” he said, “and accidentally started dating a woman in the Cirque du Flambé.” For its varieté, fire-based performances, the Cirque, started by Maque daVis, incorporated varied performers, and volunteers. Even after he moved on romantically, Sizer stayed with Cirque and when he met his now wife Marilyn, she joined him here. The two worked the box office together at the first Moisture Festival.
The Sizer’s also joined the Fremont Players together when the company sought new people. “They needed extras,” Sizer recalled, laughing, “They needed warm bodies.” Marilyn and Myron already knew others in the company, and he thinks that’s why it worked so well. “When you have a small group of people that are working together collaboratively,” he said, “it’s good to bring in people known to everyone.”
“I’m retired,” Sizer explained when asked why he participates. Having just celebrated his 69th birthday, he finds meaning in this year-round effort. “I love the daylights out of it,” he said, “It’s an opportunity to test yourself with people, and the joy of working. It’s really a labor of love!”
A Good Idea
Traditionally, since 2001, the Fremont Players have written their scripts collectively. They start with a basic plot – Aladdin, Peter Pan, Cinderella, Little Red Robin Hood, etc. – and the actors play, while some take notes and/or offer suggestions.
This year, Sizer wrote a script (based in part on many, many other Panto scripts,) and then got to watch as the Players messed with it. “The actors came up with their own dialogue,” Sizer said, “People have all kinds of good ideas.” Debbie Tully, an English immigrant, rewrote her part in a Cockney accent, and put in her own jokes. “I’m not Tennessee Williams,” Sizer acknowledged about the liberal license his fellow thespians took, “It is collaborative theater. It’s a work-in-progress.”
The plays are scripted, including original musical numbers written by Kiki Hood of the Fremont Philharmonic, although the Fremont Players will continue to play with the piece right up to – and sometime through – the first performance. “The shows don’t even turn out the same,” Sizer explained.
While wonderful to see time and time again, “we really do sell out some shows,” Sizer said. Get tickets now to see this most ambitious of Pantos in Fremont – ‘Dick Whittington And His Cat’ at Hale’s Palladium. Tickets can be purchased through Brown Paper Tickets or the box office at 206/660-4365, for $13 for general/ $7 for seniors and kids.
Make sure you get some time this holiday season to enjoy some happiness, and Fremont Players (and Fremont Phil) Panto pleasure!
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©2013 Kirby Lindsay. This column is protected by intellectual property laws, including U.S. copyright laws. Reproduction, adaptation or distribution without permission is prohibited.