Banbury village's Wizard of Oz panto enjoys full houses - but maybe too many poo and willy jokes? Review

But the Friday audience took time to get going at Adderbury Theatre Workshop’s panto. A few sketches didn’t quite work or perhaps people were uncomfortable with the script’s over-reliance on dog poo and willy jokes, writes Nick Fennell.

Anyway the serene Rose Belcher came to the rescue with a confident rendition of Dorothy’s ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ and we were off into the plot proper and her journey on the Yellow Brick Road. Dorothy was accompanied all the way by her faithful mutt Toto – Diane Grant sticking at it, having to deliver all those dreadful one-liners!

On the way she meets Scarecrow – Paul Cox brilliant with one of a number of very clever parts, enjoying Gary Leonardi’s now much better scripts - and of course poor old Lion (Nikki Cross).

But the turning point was definitely the appearance of Gary himself as the decrepit Tin Man, whose mouth had rusted up so much that he was only able to speak in grunts which were sufficiently intelligible to be extremely funny – we loved him!

There were a number of bizarre additions to the plot – Linda Leslie’s lovely commercial breaks selling insurance and Richard Cox hamming it as both a Google Maps advertiser then the hilarious Sid the Spiv. But they did work!

Now back to the Yellow Brick Road and we meet the Witches – first from the North with Becky Cheeseman (good accent!) helping the team, who were being thwarted by the evil West and South witches.

This was Melanie Cox at her outrageous best – screeching away with hideous hooked nose at her lovelier but cunning evil sister (Alison Heath) for constantly calling her ‘Babe.’

The witches were helped by the three monkeys (very well played by Bryony Green, Max Taylor and Huw Osborne – the cheeky youngest member of the cast).

Then they finally arrive at the Emerald City, helped by another bizarre addition, The Magnificent Seven Biscuit Bandits (don’t ask!).

The Wizard of Oz finally reveals herself – and what a sight! Ashley Dwyer at her very best making light of a very difficult diatribe as she granted everyone’s wish.

So all’s well that ends well. The cast grew in confidence, the audience certainly hotted up and we were sent off with a wildly enthusiastic final chorus.

So much work goes into Adderbury Theatre workshop, not just up front but stalwarts like Gill Osborne and her team, who triumphed again with the costumes (Tin Man – the best!).

The staging was excellent, especially the very clever back projection tying in so well with the plot, as did the band upstairs - Tom Davies, Mark Halstead and Simon White.

Director Jamie Cox and his team just go on doing such good stuff – keep it going!

One satisfied theatre-goer left saying: “We both thoroughly enjoyed it. Huge well done to you all for putting together such a great show.”