Jack and the Beanstalk (Park Theatre)

While most pantomimes provide a bit of frivolous fun for families in the build up to Christmas, the Park Theatre has raised the stakes with its in-house production of Jack and the Beanstalk.

Following on from last year's collaboration, Sleeping Beauty, by the theatre's artistic director Jez Bond and associate artist Mark Cameron,Jack and the Beanstalk is the second instalment of 'The Chronicles of Waa'. Audience members are led to believe they have accidentally ended up in a production of Hamlet until the play goes into meltdown and Jack comes out, with a little help from the audience. While evil inventor Ms Grimm, who has imprisoned all the giants in Gazoob, wants world domination and to destroy the love between her daughter Grenthel and the world's smallest giant Geoff, Jack and his mum Tina, living in the peaceful kingdom of Nowen, are struggling to pay the rent and to conceal their illicit cow Daisy.

The team behind Sleeping Beauty and Jack have created another world, a nod to Tolkien's Middle Earth or Lewis' Narnia, with its own language, values and passion for tupperware. So while there is heavy competition for most bizarre moment of the production, including a multilingual version of the last scene, an adaption of Antiques Roadshow for tupperware and a heartfelt song by Daisy about her longing to be more than "just a cow", when Ian McKellan got involved in the audience participation all grasp on reality was lost.

This production is ambitious and intelligent in the way it plays with, but also retains aspects of, the traditional pantomime model. Far from slapstick and double entendres, the script is bonkers throughout and the only jokes that fall flat are the few predictable panto gags. The audience has learned to expect more.

Clever writing and direction only gets production teams so far, however, and it's the hardworking cast who bring the vision to life. With only a handful of props, the five-man team showed outstanding comic timing and energy levels, with impossibly quick costume changes and character switches.

The traditional panto characters are upheld, including the panto dame Michael Cahill (a vision in citrus), the evil villain, the chilling Gloria Onitiri, the naive young male, Omar Ibrahim, the fiesty yet sensitive heroine, Paige Round, and the panto cow, Killian Macardle.

There are also a handful of new additions, including the Nigerian inspector and the band of angels Shepherds Gonzalez, who had the audience dancing along to their catchy songs. It would be unfair to pick stand out performers as each cast member gave their all while seemingly loving every moment. The team equally contribute to the five star rating, as does the musical director Dimitri Scarlato, who provided a soundtrack to match the quality of the script.

If you think panto is dated and not your cup of tea, try the Park Theatre's version and prepare to have your mind changed. And don't forget to bring your Tupperware – you never know who you might end up on stage with.