Students perform Dick Whittington panto

9 Dec 2025

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‘Dick Whittington comes to Teddy Hall’, a pantomime written by alumnus Jack Gillespie (2022, Geography) and performed by current Hall students, took place on Saturday 29 November and Thursday 4 December in the Old Dining Hall.

In true pantomime tradition, the first night featured a few forgotten lines and plenty of laughter from the audience followed by another evening of fun and entertainment. The story followed Dick Whittington, played by Augustin Ober (2025, Mathematics) – a young man from Slough who comes to Teddy Hall to take down the city’s biggest villain: King Keble and meets some Hall characters along the way, falls in love, seeks academic validation and fights some rats.

Producer Sandy Hudson (2024, Chemistry) writes: “Whilst producing the pantomime was probably one of the most stressful experiences of my life, I’m very proud it came together the way it did! Our fantastic crew and cast did their jobs with gusto and really made the script come to life, adding their own flair to it to make it even better. I hope next year is just as much of a success for the Hall.”

Co-Director Guus Wijnne (2024, History and Politics) shares: “We’re incredibly glad to have given the Hall such a wonderful display of dramatic excellence, even through the twists and turns of production. We hope you will be excited for next year’s performance!”

David Russell (2023, History and Politics), Tech and Budget, comments: “Despite some flaws with the tech and some last-minute changes, the panto performances went surprisingly well. The audience was amazing, as were our actors and musicians, making it an overall wonderful and entertaining evening.”

Co-Lead actor Toby Mann (2022, Mathematics) adds: “Being in the Pantomime has been an absolute highlight of my final year here. Thanks to the hard work of everyone involved, it turned out better than I could ever have imagined.”

A huge congratulations to the cast and crew for all their efforts, their successful show, and for bringing the Hall community together at Oxmas. Special thanks go to the Director of Music Carlos Rodríguez Otero and Fellow Professor Henrike Lähnemann for their assistance with the music and production.