Dick Whittington, Newcastle Theatre Royal

IT’S the streets of Geordieland which are paved with gold in this triumphant tale of pest control while King Rat is one of those evil Southerners from even further than Sunderland. The Theatre Royal’s panto is a tradition all of its own with a core cast who come back year after year, some super special effects and a thriller-chiller 3D section too.

Chris Hayward dazzled in an eye-watering array of costumes as Dame Rita Fitzfenwick, with sartorial influences from Yves Saint Laurent to Bubbles Devere. Danny Adams is our zany, silly Dick and yes, there are one or ten jokes involving his name.

Local lass Alice Stokoe is a lovely Alice Fitzfenwick (and smiled sweetly even when being splurted with chewed-up apple) while Peter Peverley’s Bobby Thompson Cat is indeed the purrfect embodiment of The Little Waster in feline form. Stardust was provided in the form of Charlie Hardwick as The Spirit of the Tyne, but eeh, her frock was a bit nowty. Similarly, despite a punchy Tyne Newsflash complete with surprise celebrity newsreader, as soon as the show opens we are assaulted that inexplicable bright medieval garb only ever worn by pantomime chorus members.

This really is my only issue. The children howl with laughter at Danny, who could work harder only if he paved the stage with adamantine. The script, healthily disregarding PC-ness, is funny, focused and gloriously parochial. The scary effects have everyone screaming and the ritual audience humiliation is an utter cringe-fest. There’s a cracking song, That’s How Us Geordies Taak and I could have sworn someone actually ate rabbit poo. Add in lasers, cute dancing rodents and some classy trampolining and it’s clear that this show is right at the top of its game. Rat-astic!

* Runs until Sunday, January 17. Box Office: 08448-112121 or theatreroyal.co.uk

Sarah Scott