National Theatre pantomime ‘Dick Whittington’ to be streamed for free

The pantomime will be available to watch on Christmas Day.

UPDATE: In a tweet from the National Theatre on 6 January, all remaining in-person performances of Dick Whittington have been cancelled. The production will still be available on National Theatre at Home from 11 January.

Ahead of Dick Whittington opening at the National Theatre this week, it's been announced that the show will be streamed. A performance will be filmed, and made available to watch on The Show Must Go On YouTube channel as well as the theatre's own streaming service in 2021.

Dick Whittington will be filmed on 19 December, in front of a socially distanced audience. The show will then be streamed online from 23 - 27 Dec. After this, it will then be added to the National Theatre at Home platform on 11 Jan. 2021 for six weeks.

Director Ned Bennett said: "We are incredibly excited about presenting a pantomime as it's such a celebratory, warm and family friendly part of our theatrical history and the broadcast means it will reach an even wider audience. It feels important after everything that's happened in 2020 to bring some joy, anarchy and silliness!"

First staged at Lyric Hammersmith in 2018, Jude Christian and Cariad Lloyd's adaptation has been reinvented for this year's show. The cast includes Lawrence Hodgson-Mullings as Dick Whittington, Melanie La Barrie as Bow Belles, Dickie Beau as Sarah, Amy Booth-Steel as Queen Rat, Laura Checkley as Mayor Pigeon, Georgina Onuorah as Alice, Cleve September as Tom Cat, Beth Hinton-Lever, Travis Kerry, Jaye Marshall, Ken Nguyen, Tinovimbanashe Sibanda and Christopher Tendai.

Dick Whittington will be staged in the newly reconfigured Olivier Theatre, allowing for social distancing.

This year's production of Dick Whittington marks the National Theatre's return to pantomime. After Dick Whittington, the National Theatre will present a revival of The Normal Heart, with performances from February 2021.

^{Photo credit: Dick Whittington artwork (Photo courtesy of National Theatre)}