When a small boy in the row in front appeared to raise a giant finger to the cast, the gesture might have been misconstrued. But it wasn't meant as an insult - the digit was in fact a thumb, stuck on a foam hand, and the lad brandished it frequently during this Hiss and Boo production to show his appreciation.

The panto started a little sluggishly on Sunday afternoon, with the singing a bit wonky, but it soon got into its stride. The 'plot' was, of course, as thin as some of the scenery. The tale of a Gloucestershire lad who strides off to London, believing the city to be paved with gold, but eventually ends up as Lord Mayor, even featured the naive traveller, played by Mathewcorrect Baynton, right, getting stranded on a tropical island with a gorilla, for example.

Dick (or, as he kept insisting, "Richard") quickly fell for the charms of the air-headed, but undeniably striking Alice (Kate Rawson) early on, but relied heavily on his canny feline pal Tommy (Mark Conway) to get him out of a few scrapes. Tommy sometimes stole the show, but was in turn often upstaged by the smirking, mischievious - and occasionally undressed - Idle Jack (Richard Thomson) and camp King Rat (Philip Elvy, a cross between Alice Cooper and Richard E.Grant).

No panto would be complete without innuendo, so we were treated to a few remarks about getting hands on Sarah the Cook's (Matt Pinches) dumplings, and so on, but generally it was PG-rated stuff. The puns were more frequent in the second half - the 'best' being a reference to the Sultana ("She's my currant wife," quipped the Sultan, played by Graham Cowes).

The laughs often relied on minor hiccups, such as a musician caught swigging tea and feedback from a microphone during a boisterous scene.

Dick Whittington is at the Corn Exchange until New Year's Eve (box office: 01635 522733).