This year’s Sheringham Little Theatre pantomime is a jam-packed performance, a well-blended cocktail of contemporary references and good old-fashioned pantomime fun.

Telling the story of Cinderella, we witness a tastefully modern take on the age-old fairytale. Each scene was colourful and vibrant, sporting energetic dance routines, musical numbers familiar and current, as well as plenty of opportunity for audience engagement.

Not only are there jokes for all ages, but there are comedic references to the town of Sheringham, reaching beyond to the badlands of Overstrand.

The audience is held captive by the sheer gusto of the performers as well as the familiar ‘o, no she didn’t’ and ‘o, yes she did’ chants.

In this production it is very much ‘o yes, she did!’: Cinderella (Emily Kate Anne) was no whining pushover, she knew precisely what she wanted but didn’t allow that to negate her kind-hearted nature or strength of character. She is a 21st century woman.

Her siblings, Beeston and Bump (Kit Henson and Daniella Schindler) refine selfishness, avarice and blind lust to a new art form: they are an irresistibly repulsive double act.

Buttonz (Grace Pennington) is another force of nature, moving along the action, always maintaining electric contact with the audience.

Director Ben Nash has taken Nick Earnshaw’s clever writing and forged a truly enthralling show, in which the actors are given the confidence to discover new aspects of the script.

The same applies to the musical directors and the choreographers: they devise a seamless, but very human spectacle, they emanate joy and goodwill.

Cinderella is a seasonal song to remember.

Cinderella runs until January 2. 

Review by Paris Rhiannon, Ezra Herring and Peter Pegnall