Help us find Dick Whittington’s Cat!
2500 children are at risk of missing out on their Christmas panto tomorrow, after a theatre set was stolen over the weekend.
On the night of Friday 14th December a set for Dick Whittington and his Cat was snatched from a car near High Street Kensington. Amongst the props and scenery was the beloved puppet, Tommy the Cat. It was a bespoke creation for West End in Schools, a theatre company that travels the UK bringing high quality theatre to primary schools.
For many children the pantomime is their first experience of live theatre, and many schools book it year after year as a festive treat. But while Dick Whittington may have journeyed to London in search of streets paved with gold, on Friday night there were some Grinches lying in wait.
West End in Schools are now hoping desperately for a Christmas miracle, and have put a call-out for Tommy to be returned during the busiest week of the school panto season.
With 14 performances of Dick Whittington scheduled for tomorrow in schools across the country, the team are doing everything they can to make sure the children get the panto experience they deserve.Markmark Productions, resident company at The Civic Theatre, Barnsley, have generously provided an understudy cat puppet, Kat, created by the same puppeteer as the original. It will take some serious theatrical magic for the show to go on. In the meantime the search for Tommy continues.
The lost Tommy puppet and the rest of the set is contained in two large Eastpak bags, one black and one grey, and can be returned to any police station or to the stage door of the Novello Theatre, Aldwych, London WC2B 4LD, in London.