"Puss In Boots" written by Christopher Mercer.

Burton Joyce Players.

Burton Joyce Village Hall.

This is a completely new version of "Puss In Boots" where the only thing paved in gold are the performances. The Princess still gets her man and there's still help from Puss to bring this result around.

Christopher Mercer has written a cracker of a panto, with some new jokes mixed in with a smattering of classic panto jokes and some really strong new characters. It's a real blend of traditional panto and a fresh new feel.

Greg Nicholas makes a great Dame in Dame Wendy Wellington with the obligatory multitude of costume changes and wigs. These got more and more flashy until the final one which really does sparkle. Greg just needed to slow down a tad in his duet of Human League's "Don't You Want Me" as he was singing ahead of the music, but apart from that timing issue, his comic timing was all in line with being a classic Dame.

Charlie, who falls for the Princess Penelope, is played by Isla Hilton. With Charlie's talking Puss, they make a lovely thigh slapping duo.

Vic Jones is Puss, and one of the best Puss's I've seen, and I love her red hair. Puss is very streetwise which is where that blend of traditional and the more modern works so well. Watch out for the very funny scene where Puss wants to go to the toilet. As a cat owner, this particular section struck a chord with me. A lovely acute observation. I imagine that Vic is feline extremely pleased with her performance, and so she should.

Any panto is built on pairings and there's a lovely pairing in King William and Queen Katherine - where does that ring a bell I wonder? Played by David Matthews and Kerri Kirk respectively they play the typical panto strong wife/under the thumb husband duo. I loved the use of Joan Jett's "I Hate Myself For Loving You" section, sung by Kerri with both King and Queen donning leather jackets.

Another lovely duo are Block and Tackle, henchmen to the deliciously evil Lord Rottenberry. Block is played by Molly Fitches and Tackle by Hannah Smith. Not so much the bumbling pair, which is how most pantos represent the baddie's henchmen, just not the sharpest knives in the cutlery drawer. A lovely comic double act.

Lily Musson plays Princess Penelope, who you could tell was loving playing Penelope because you could see on her face, especially in one of the duets with Charlie. there's also a nice modern "hen party" scene which got a lot of the audience - mostly the women - singing along to an Abba classic, but maybe not the one that first comes to mind - she's not Queen just yet!

Christopher Mercer has written himself an absolute gem of a character in Lord Rottenberry. It's not often enough we see Chris play someone as nasty as this character, and he plays nasty so very well. Looking like a cross between a vampire - with the dark ringed eyes - and Erik from "Phantom Of the Opera", the audience loved to hate this Lord, and Chris completely played up to their booing and hissing. Chris also takes Directing credits as well.

During the fight scene with Puss, which was done with swords that actually sounded like metal swords, which meant the fight choreography, by Rob Howarth and David Brockhouse, looked and sounded brilliant. Here was a twist that I can't remember seeing utilised in any panto I've seen. I won't give away this twist but it was the most unexpected twist I've seen in all of this Winter panto season.

Two other cameo performances which left another big impression with me came from Rob Howarth who doubled as Bear and Fernando. "Bear" you could probably guess where this role appears, and Fernando, well, I'll not spoil the entrance and involvement of this role. Even the sound man, David gets to be involved on stage!

The other performance which I thought was extremely mention-worthy is by Austin Kirk as Hogrot the Horrible. Austin is a star in the making with his confidence and characterisation of this character. And he obviously loves being on stage because it shows.

The ensemble are Charlie Caudwell, Henry Chaloner, Thea Evans, Kay Faulks, Nikki Lever, Kathy Matthews, Avril McCormick, Jessie Murdock, Robyn Stevens, Isabelle Williams and Amelie Wyvill.

Choreographed by Jeanette Glover and Vic Jones. I noticed that at the start some of the younger ensemble had that "rabbit in the headlights" look while in the larger choreographed pieces, but they got through it and, as the panto commenced, that look diminished and it looked as if they were more comfortable with the dance moves. By the time we got to the final dance set it looked as if all nerves were gone and they were all living the good life.

Burton Joyce Players sets are always a high point for me and this panto maintains this reputation with several set changes, sometimes a bit noisy during the changes. The set design is by Marilyn Carr.

Lighting design is by James Caudwell and sound design is by David Brockhouse. We started off the panto with mic packs but after a few minutes these seemed to pack up. This in itself was not a massive issue because the projection by all on stage was really good.

The costumes are excellent thanks to Jenny Harwood, Kathy Matthews, Gwen McCormick, Molly Fitches and Lesley Hutchinson.

All in all this is one of those shows that is always fiercely supported by the community and always sells well. It's no surprise because every show Burton Joyce Players put on gets better and better. Well written and well performed, and even the rare prompt gave rise to some lovely comical ad-libbing by a couple of the cast. A nice mix of songs and that brilliant twist near the end makes this New Year panto a gem of a show.

"Puss In Boots" is at Burton Joyce Village Hall until Saturday 27 January.