Review and photos: Snow White ticks all the panto boxes with some stonking moments on Northampton stage

Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it's off to panto we go, with a barrel of puns and a dame with hair buns, there's never a dull moment on show.

Landing with a wicked cackle at the Royal & Derngate, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is as traditional as Christmas gets.

Strictly Come Dancing and Coronation Street celebs? Tick.

Outrageously dressed dame? Tick.

Sickly sweet love story between two inappropriately aged people? Tick.

Seven dwarfs? Tick, tick, tick.

This may not be quite the Snow White story we all remember from childhood - largely due to the odd change in dwarf names and the lack of a cold-blooded huntsman - but it retains the magic mirror, poisoned apple and the kiss of Prince Charming, that audiences young and old expect.

Add into the mix some amusing artistic choices with Alan Carr featuring as the all seeing mirror, and Marc Pickering grabbing the best laughs as Herman the henchmen who dreams of life on the stage.

All the firm favourites remain intact including a fruity wheelbarrow of puns, a nefarious rock interpretation of Alice Cooper's Poison and the obligatory booing, hissing and 'behind you'.

Wendi Peters hams it up spectacularly as the Wicked Queen, whilst Ore Oduba is suitably swooning as Prince Charming.

As a pantomime regular I've come to learn that these productions really come to life when things go awry, the audience is lively and the cast slip into improvisation.

Unfortunately the performance I attended with my two boys was early in the run and lacking a little in atmosphere. This left the cast with little to bounce off and as a result the show was rather tame. There also seemed to be a dearth of innuendos, political wisecracks or any adult humour at all. Instead the very staid performance was by the book hitting all the right notes when it came to singing, dancing and performing lines, but lacked any real punch.

It also seemed a shame that the script was not modernised and instead the cutesy Snow White, played delightfully by Lauren Lane, was waiting for Prince Charming to rescue her, rather than being empowered to fight for herself.

All that being said, the costumes and staging were as stunning as always, the showpieces were stonking and there was some particularly impressive acrobatics by Kain Francis, as silent dwarf Loopy.

The musical medley finale was lapped up by the crowd, who had finally warmed up, and everyone left the auditorium with a Christmas cheer.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs runs until Saturday December 23. It lasts for two hours and ten minutes including a 20-minute interval. There are audio described performances, BSL signed interpreted performances, a captioned performance and a relaxed performance during the run. Tickets cost from £12 before fees. Visit royalandderngate.co.uk/whats-on/snow-white or call the box office on 01604 624811 to book or for more information.