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From the opening chords of a ‘tea’ed-up’ version of ‘Is this the way to Amarillo’ to the final notes of ‘Get up and dance’, Ali Baba & the Four Tea Thieves at The Maltings whizzes and sparkles with every over-the-toppy, winky, noddy trope in the panto pantheon. And the audience loved it.

The show takes the audience into the tea-drenched corridors of the palace of obnoxious autocrat The Wazzir (Ross Graham) and on into the depths of his secret tea cavern.

The Wazzir is convinced that the only way to cure his baldness is to drink the perfect cuppa brewed by rebel Princess Lapsang Souchong (Georgia Fordyce) and avuncular Dexter (John Stenhouse). The palace guards are a troupe of teabags – the Perforations – played by two alternating teams of talented local youngsters.

Of course, The Wazzir has grasped the wrong end of the teaspoon. But it takes the combined forces of local beauty salon owner Ali Baba (Cameron Ivor) and his three stooges – Fizzy Lizzy (Emma Boyd), Pixie Perfection (Charlotte Summers) and the all-important dame BeBe Beautiful (Euan McIver) – to reveal what a wazzock The Wazzir is. Humpty the camel plays a vital role as do the on-point sound and lighting effects.

The Wazzir and Dexter. Picture by Eve Johnstone.

Writer/director Wendy Payn’s snappy script is rich with dialect puns and local jokes, which never exclude but lift the production above your average broad-brushstroke big-town show.

The local connections are underscored by Chris Caput’s sets of exoticised versions of Berwick’s skyline, Cocklawburn and Holy Island.

The final word must go to the cast. Wow. The ensemble song and dance routines had the audience clapping and singing along and even leaping to their feet.

Georgia Fordyce and Cameron Ivor know how to throw the moves and belt a tune, and the youth chorus supported with gusto.

Team Peppermint. Picture by Eve Johnstone.

John Stenhouse was the perfect world-weary foil to Ross Graham’s crazed mood pendulum; outrage to oozing charm in the blink of an eye.

As for the slapstick sisters – Charlotte Summers, Emma Boyd and Euan McIver – they delivered capers and chortles with panache all done up in deliciously ‘ooh-la-la’ costumes.

So, dust down your light spinners and pop on your Christmas jumpers. Ali Baba & the Four Tea Thieves may be behind me, but it’s all ahead for you. Oh yes it is!

Ali Baba & the Four Tea Thieves runs until December 30 at The Maltings, Berwick. For performance dates, times and tickets, go to www.maltingsberwick.co.uk

A pun-tastic panto tea-romp - review of Ali Baba & the Four Tea Thieves at The Maltings in Berwick