Play helps boost church fund
Brenda Hewison as Dick Whittington, Lorraine Stanley as Sarah the Cook and Steve Jordan as King Rat outside St Peter's and St Paul's Church in Chipping Warden
A pantomime will bring to life a popular English tale as it helps to preserve a village church.
The first showing of Dick Whittington and his Cat will take place in Chipping Warden Village Hall at 7.30pm tomorrow (Friday), with proceeds going towards raising £20,000 needed to pay for the upkeep of the village’s St Peter’s and St Paul’s Church.
Barbara Bartlett, churchwarden and producer of the play, said: “The annual pantomimes have been going on for about 21 years, and the villagers are always really supportive. We have had full houses over the years with previous performances so we hope to have the same this year!
“It is a lovely family show with lots of audience participation, goodies and baddies and plenty of ‘he’s behind you’. There will be plenty of chances for the audience to sing along with the cast.”
The cast is made up of 32 people, with 20 children also being included in the production. Rehearsals have taken place for several weeks but have been slightly disrupted due to the winter conditions.
The popular tale of Dick Whittington was first performed in 1814 and is inspired by the story of Richard Whittington, who was a merchant living in the 15th Century who helped finance a number of public projects in London. The pantomime story is about of young orphan called Dick who went to London after hearing the roads were ‘paved with gold’.
After failing to find any gold, he gets taken in by a wealthy merchant and uses money to buy a cat which kills all the vermin in the house.
Dick gets rich when a king buys his cat for a great fortune to solve a rat infestation at his palace, allowing him to lead a full and prosperous life.
Proceeds from the three showings of the pantomime will help with repair work needed for the Grade I-listed church, and Mrs Bartlett said: “The church is very important to everyone in the village, so we hope to raise as much money as possible from these performances.
“We worship there every week so it is very important we help keep the building in good condition so that future generations can use it.
“It has been great fun doing these pantomimes for so long, it is lovely to see everyone come together and we are all looking forward to it!”
Tickets for each performance costs £4 for adults or £1 for children accompanied by an adult.
They are available to buy either from Mrs Bartlett on 01295 251314 or on the door.
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Weather for Banbury
Thursday 20 June 2013
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