Treasure Island, Burneside Amateur Theatrical Society (BATS)

Serious business, panto. Fortunately, BATS veteran Gordon Lawson has a wealth of experience to draw on and is adept at orchestrating chaos. His slick and inventive take on Treasure Island went down a storm with the matinee audience at The Bryce.

We were introduced to the story by Ron Milnes’ Billy Skillet narrating Red Rum’s (Sue Cook) story over a projected montage - a clever technique of getting a sense of story over to a young audience without losing them.

On principle boy duties, Tracey Howson made a great BATS panto debut with her Jim Ladd bouncing off Jen Armitstead’s Nancy/Fancy. Louise Bell was a laudable Captain Smellit, and hamming up a scratched finger Doctor Liversausage was Zaeed Mohammed.

Helen Townson channelled her inner Mrs Overall with her turn as Brenn Gunn and Martin Cash delved into his expanding bag of bumbling toffs and came up with a purple-faced Squire.

The always-brilliant band of BATS juniors enjoyed their pirate roles and were ably choreographed in the fun dance routines by Helen Fothergill, whose UV-lit skeleton dance number was particularly effective.

The standout, though, was John Dodds as Long John Silver, delivering a performance almost too good for pantomime, with pithy comebacks to the audience's jeers soaring over the heads of the younger audience members, but landing nicely with those accompanying them.

Such is the repeatedly high standard of BATS costumiers Fran Milnes and Liz Archer that their work is often overlooked. Once again their designs, most of which are handmade with only specialist items bought in, made the eyes pop.

Incredible sets were expertly lit by Joe Hacker, built by the director himself and lovingly painted and dressed by Stewart Williams, Allyson Harkness and Sue Cook. The attention to detail was extraordinary, in particular the ramshackle Admiral Bimbo Inn and Treasure Island itself.

The pace never lagged, even with tricky scene changes to negotiate, proving once again that BATS not only have a strong team in front of the curtain, but behind it, too.

Duncan Cramphorn