Dick Whittington and His Magical Cat (Bishop's Stortford – panto)

The artistic director of the Rhodes Arts Centre Phil Dale plays Dame (Sarah the Cook) as a man with a beard in a frock. Sunada Biswas' Tom the Cat may be a hep moggie with a nice line in break-dancing, but this cat is distinctly from another dimension.

Then there's the villainous Ratputin, a billionaire with political ambitions with a towering multi-storeyed office block right in the middle of London. Duncan Rutherford slinks and slithers in fine rodent style but his thick accent from time to time smothers what he's actually saying.

Also interfering with the proceedings is a trio of comics – Conor O'Sullivan's Itchy, Daniel James' Scratchy and non-speaking Bro (Will Lynch). They are funny enough, but tend to hold up the main action. Connor Linden's Idle Jack is much more audience-friendly.

Amy Moulder is Dick in full Principal Boy style, thigh-slapping and all. Georgia Collins plays Alice Fitzwarren, a girl who is more than capable of looking after her father's shop. The dancing choreographed by Katie Barker-Dale is energetic; the original music and lyrics are by Linden. The director is Jeanne Stacey.

The stage has been extended horizontally with the green-lit entrance to Ratputin's lair to stage left and a welcoming Georgian-style door for Grace Wheeler's cockney Fairy Bowbelle at stage right. Set design is by Malvern Hostick and costumes by Julia Dale.

There's also good use of projection (Rob Dyer) to indicate the spread of Ratputin's regime across the media as well as business and politics. This is definitely not a production from which you can mentally opt out.

Dick Whittington and His Magical Cat runs at the Rhodes Arts Complex, Bishop's Stortford until 3 January.