Old Mother Goose, York Theatre Royal, review: Berwick Kaler reunites with David Leonard for this slapstick show

There was no sign of 'artistic differences' in this assured Christmas classic

Faye Spooner, Harry Hughes, Suzy Cooper, Jake Lindsay, Tim Lawrence, Cameron MacDonald, Danielle Mullan (Anthony Robling)

It is a sign of the importance attached to the pantomime at York’s Theatre Royal that assurances have already been made that its £4.1m facelift would be completed in time for next year’s show.

Excitement at the prospect of the makeover of the Georgian playhouse has been tempered only by the determination to give the public its 2015 Yuletide fix. Fans queued overnight for tickets for uber-dame Berwick Kaler’s 36th panto appearance in York.

David Leonard as the Dreaded Lurgi, with Harry Hughes (Anthony Robling)

Over the decades the actor has created a seasonal and proudly un-starry institution whose popularity extends beyond the confines of the city to the rest of the country and even overseas. Generations have now been schooled in the good-natured nonsense he creates.

This year Kaler is re-united with David Leonard as the baddie par excellence, the Dreaded Lurgi, after the pair reportedly fell out over “artistic differences” in 2011. Leonard played a mean Miss Trunchbull in a West End Matilda during the hiatus. His return is welcome.

Kaler employs his full armoury of water-drenched slapstick and locally-inspired japery – losing his trademark wig twice in the process. And if little heads were nodding slightly they came alive with the traditional finale of the hurling of the Wagon Wheels.

To 31 January