PANTO time in Burneside has once again inspired capacity audiences.

However, this year's attraction was a panto with a difference, entitled Old Father Time, produced by Gordon Lawson.

Normally, audiences know the story and can anticipate the events but this was a new story in which wicked Old Father Time refuses to fade away and make way for Baby New Year.

By stealing the pendulum of the Burneside Clock he makes time stand still.

After many adventures and the usual time honoured help of Fairy Fobwatch time is restored and the new Millennium is then ushered in.

Within the framework of the rather thin story line there was plenty of opportunity for the performers to take us through the typical panto adventures to arrive in The Land of Summertime, The Island of Eternal Darkness, a voyage on the SS Millennium and a journey to the bottom of the sea and to get us all back home again for a colourful grand finale.

Dame Beatty Time and Percy Part-timer, played respectively by Shaun O'Sullivan and Julian Nattrass, kept the show moving along at a good pace with their knock-about and slapstick comedy together with the usual 'corny' jokes, at which we all laugh and which we have come to expect in pantomime.

Wicked Old Father Time, played by Oliver Acland, made sinister well-timed appearances, adding the essential touch of villainy to the situation and giving the enthusiastic audience plenty of opportunity for hissing and booing.

The dance routines were excellent, especially the underwater scene, the ultraviolet lighting adding an extra dimension to both the set and the dancing.

The scenery, lighting, special effects and costume were all of the highest standard and this, together with the enthusiastic performance of the cast, produced a really timely production.

ML