BOUNCING Pc Blobby of Crinkley Bottom and Buttons aka Buttocks, played by Barnaby, were my stars of this show. The old tale, set in Stony Broke-on-the-Dole, bore all the hallmarks of director Jim Davidson's humour, and so the slapstick was timed perfectly as the pace veered wildly between the lazy and the crazy. The Spite Girls: ugly sisters Wicked Wanda (Simon Bashford) and Ravishing Rita (Mark Two) were an entertaining gruesome twosome in a sparkling array of gaudy gear, and offering an improvised repartee which they seemed to enjoy as much as us.

Prince Charming (Darren Day) and Dandini (Jon Emmanuel) also bounced off each other to amusing effect. Day's impersonations are hilarious and his rendition of Boyzone's No Matter What first class.

Ruth Madoc and that fabulous voice were a commanding presence as the good fairy. But I found Cinders (Isla Fisher of Home and Away) and her dad Baron Hardup, Basil Soper, a tad washed out by their colleagues.

The numerous sets ranged from simple to extravagant, but were all effective and kept the panto racing.

The sound was simply fantastic, other than with Fisher's solo, which was drowned by her backing.

Dancers were a colourful backdrop and link throughout the show, and performed YMCA, a fox hunting canter, a snatch of the Nutcracker Suite and Irish jigging a la Flatley as well as raving along to Underworld's Born Slippy at the Royal Ball.

Youngsters in the dance company mingled with the audience at one stage, and the sisters shot us with supersoaker guns, but I was disappointed that other than that our participation was limited to the verbal, and no-one was given the chance to go on stage and slob with El Blob.

An amazing dayglo puppet show was one of the high spots, as was Blobby's nose picking mishap, and, of course, the spectacle of Cinders going to the ball. They didn't let us feast our eyes on that one for long enough though - probably because the snow white ponies were all on the verge of bolting!

Zoe Harewood

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.