Rehearsals are underway for Ricky Whittington And His Cat, a new comic pantomime starring a number of comedy actors.

Described as "a panto for our times", and labelled "a timely, satirical and very funny take on old-school panto featuring song, dance and a wealth of comic talent", the show will star Fresh Meat's Charlotte Ritchie, alongside Rob Carter, David Elms, Omar Ibrahim, Emily Lloyd-Saini, Rosa Robson and Ellie White.

Written by Sheeps members Daran Johnson and Liam Williams, Ricky Whittington And His Cat focuses on "a nice lad called Ricky Whittington, who lived somewhere that isn't London. Frustrated by the lack of social and economic opportunities in 'not-London', he put all his possessions into a handkerchief-tied-to-a-stick and set off to 'is-London' with his (talking - get on board) Cat, who was a li'l prick."

The description continues: "Ricky soon learns that the streets are not paved with gold, they're overrun by rats (which represent disenfranchisement, political disillusionment, economic instability, alienation etc) and that London isn't all that welcoming a place for a young person who makes the bold decision of moving there(/here) without first having been born to rich parents."

Produced by Fight In The Dog, the show is directed by Alex Clatworthy with Freddie Tapner as the musical director.

Charlotte Ritchie - best known as Oregon from Fresh Meat and Hannah from Siblings - will play Ricky Whittington, with Omar Ibrahim as the cat. Rob Carter, David Elms, Emily Lloyd-Saini, Rosa Robson and Ellie White will play various roles throughout the show.

Additionally, across the run, a series of comedians will making guest appearances in rotation, to play a 'mystery role'. Richard Gadd will be the first up, with creators Liam Williams and Daran Johnson also due to take a turn in amongst other "stellar" names. Adam Riches, Katy Wix and Will Andrews are amongst the other guest stars already announced.

As the pictures below show, the core cast are now in rehearsals. Ricky Whittington will launch at The New Diorama Theatre (Regents Place, London) on Monday 12th December, and runs to the 7th January.

Ricky Whittington has now finished. To find out what the theatre company Fight In The Dog are up to next visit fightinthedog.co.uk