The Wardens are back in Pantoland after a Covid-enforced absence and it was a real joy to see the best panto company in the land come back on top form with Mother Goose.

The set was glorious, with the addition of a fabulous cottage designed by scenic artist Jim Vale (also a part of the large and hyper-efficient backstage team), and everything was brought fizzing to life by the musical accompaniment of MD Elinor Powell and her live band – a rare thing in Pantoland these days.

As Fairy Hapus Julie McNicholls Vale channelled the late Ruth Madoc as the jolliest of Welsh companions, a knowing glint in the eye cutting through her rhyming script.

Jordan Ainslie-Rogers was a mighty Jack, and the love of his life, Jill, was played with great sweetness by Yoyo Baron.

Ioan Guile (Pickles) was running on more adrenaline than a cardiac ward and showing us that his talent for pantomime – four decades in the making – is as fresh as ever.

Carl Ryan essayed the Demon Rotten-Egg with a camp splendour all his own, sashaying and strutting in a manner fit to make RuPaul look to her laurels. Theresa Jones brought to spectacular life in Lady Lucre the comic hauteur she has brought to many a villain.

Bob McIntyre and Donna Richards as King and Queen of Gooseland bestrode the stage with tremendous elegance, wit and operatic flair, ably accompanied by their adorable children’s chorus of goslings whose performance of The Ugly Duckling was as charming as it was moving.

Alex Neil and Nick Allen’s energetic performances as Track and Trace supported the main principals with great flair. Their coming together as the first same-sex couple I’ve seen in a panto quadruple-wedding struck a massive blow for the kind of equality we should all be able to take for granted, and which children by and large offer without thinking, but without making the show into a political statement.

Lorna Lowe as Priscilla did sterling work in a wonderfully weighty costume. Writer, director and dame Richard Cheshire stole every scene. His Fanny was sweet, saucy and a joy to behold, in an array of costumes set to make eyes pop and hearts race. His outing as Wonder Woman will not readily be forgotten.

The Wardens are world-leading professors of their craft. Long may they reign.

Review by Paddy Cooper