The WOPA mission statement is to produce an annual Panto that potentially involves all members of the community. Well the streets of west Oxford must have been empty as most of the local population seemed to be on the stage in the leisure centre for this epic yarn.

Firstly we were treated to a brief video leading us into the opening scene at Mutley Farm and a story involving Venetian ice-cream makers blended in with the traditional Jack & Beanstalk tale.

The action moved slickly between the farm and Venice. The flats were well painted by Lois Muddiman but there were perhaps a few too many scene changes with the scenery being turned or removed sometimes with annoying regularity.

The live action opens with Jack Trott (Fallou Faye), his mother and various others on stage including Colin the Cockerel played by Carol Brady who stole the first half of the show with her impressive rendering of the bird. Carol must have spent hours studying chicken manoeuvres to pull off a performance like this. Perhaps her television is broken.

Accompanying Colin frequently was the slightly arthritic looking cow Daisy, an impressive bovine performance by Angela Bloss. To complete the menagerie writer/director Heidi Utton played Gertie the Goose happily rearing her goslings and laying golden eggs of varying sizes.

Anant Borole portrayed Jack's mother, obviously relishing his role as the pantomime Dame and tenant of the evil Squire Brown (Jon Rail) who wants to double the rent on the Trott's farm in an effort to evict them and open a giant egg farm Jennifer Crouch was Leonardo the Venetian ice-cream seller and having had his children turned into ice-cream the only way to reverse the spell is to find the cow with a daisy marking and drink her milk. He easily finds Daisy by her markings and then returns with her to Italy to administer the milk to his children.

All this is intertwined with the tradition Panto storyline of Jack trading Daisy for a handful of beans. Jack's mum casts the beans aside and overnight they grow into the giant beanstalk. Next day Jack scales the plant and arrives in the land of the Ogre called Umpff. This land is a parody of the US under Donald Trump. For some reason Trump (Umpff) is played by a young lady Fleur Roland. Fleur delivered an admirable confident performance but being cast in this role just didn't work for me.

Jack and his friend Rosamund make their exit via the beanstalk and then chop it down. Rosie Brown played Rosamund, giving an excellent assertive performance and of course she ends up with Jack happily ever after when Gertie donates one of her golden eggs to buy the farm from the Squire.

All good solid local entertainment from WOPA.

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