Kids in London - Cinderella pantomime at Richmond

You know it's getting close to Christmas when you get to go and see your first pantomime. Oh no you don't, oh yes you do!

Richmond Theatre - with the exterior lit up in a suitably princess pink - did panto as panto should be done. There was singing, there was dancing, there was ballet, there were child dancers, there were jokes, there were goodies and baddies, there was audience participation (poor Ugly Marcus in the audience became a main fixture in the jokes) and there were loads and loads and loads of kids in the audience. There were even tiny white ponies pulling along the magical carriage - awwhhhhh (this was my daughter's favourite bit).

Nigel Havers topped the bill as Baron Hardup - cast as a bit of a hen pecked softy really - until the happy ending when he turned just mean enough to recapture the hearts of the more mature ladies in the audience.

I thought the writer was brave having a hunting scene in the first act - it was so nice to see the familiar red coats. But happily there were no foxes (although we loved Basil Brush at Richmond last year)involved as they had decided to make it a treasure hunt.

Cinderella (great singer), Prince Charming and his servant Dandini were all lovely. The Fairy Godmother had surprising blue hair (this caused great concern to my daughter) but a funny squeaky voice. But Paul Zerdin (and his puppet Sam) completely stole the show. He was funny, he had great rapport with the audience and he knew exactly how far he could go with topical jokes without offending. Truly a master of his craft - to be able to hold both kids and adults in such thrall must be a blessing. We will be looking out for a DVD of him to go in someone's Christmas stocking.

There was plenty of "Look behind yous" when a ghost made an appearance to haunt the fantasticly good bad step sisters - played in campingly great style by Ian Good and John Barr. And excellent over the top outfits that you would only expect to see on a WAG...you nearly had to shade your eyes from all the dazzle. The stepmother, whilst not the most evil of baddies I have ever seen, did manage to generate a healthy number of hisses and boos each time she appeared on stage.

It was a long one hour 40 minutes for the first act - a bit too long for some of the fidgety small people at the show. And we couldn't find anyone to buy an ice cream from - which may have caused ructions for some families. But the second Act didn't seem long enough at 45 minutes - even when you take into account the fantastic entertainment and singing along of Buttons with help from some small audience members.

The music was provided by a great small team who had a happy banter going on with the cast. It was nice to see Shine sung in the first Act and all the little girls in the audience (including my daughter) were delighted that we ended on that High School Musical number that you want to hate but can't help singing.

So. If you want to put a bit of tradition and good clean fun back into your Christmas time I recommend you hurry down to Richmond to see this panto. You can't fail to come out smiling. It continues until the 20th January and there are a number of special events such as the Princess Party, Family Fun Days and Set design skills workshops too.