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To the Loveless Hall for some Friday night fun with @wivenhoepanto and the production of Jack and the Beanstalk.

Oh no you’re not!

Oh yes… blah blah blah.

You need a certain mindset to attend a village pantomime and participate in the true spirit of the occasion. Twelve months ago, and the boy from back in the hood would have been far too cynical and sneering as the community came together for nothing as harmless as some shared humour.

But transported out to the estuary wilds, and @AnnaJCowen and I were first in the queue to snap up tickets for the annual Wivenhoe Pantomime. For a peanut price of five pounds, there hasn’t been a better value ticket in the town over the five day run.

“The Friday evening performance has something of a reputation for being rather lively,” warned the good @MatthewLinley when he kindly invited me backstage for a pre-panto podcast just before Christmas.

What the Director of the Wivenhoe Pantomime didn’t let slip was the rather saucy script, penned by Folk Club regular Brian Ford. It went straight over the head of the Ice Maiden that is @AnnaJCowen. This is the girl don’t forget who associates ripe melons as an aperitif, and not something slightly more arousing.

It was all good clean fun though, with our charming Front of House Manager David Harrison meeting and greeting locals on the door, accompanied by Mr Mayor, Brian Sinclair.

Taking up your seat was something of a social event in itself. Of all the pantos, on all the nights and in all the rows and yeah, by good fortune and we just happened to be sitting right behind the lovely @tinysketchbook.

I say right behind, and yep, it was a rather intimate experience. They don’t half pack ‘em in at the Loveless Hall. The first sighting of the ripe melons up on stage proved to be a slightly uncomfortable experience for me.

The panto itself was part professional, part playful and painfully funny in places. Littered with local references and staged in old Wyvenhoe, I don’t think it will transfer well to the West End. Which is all part of the cause - keeping it #hyperlocal and joining together all that live within the town.

The #bigsociety beanstalk was something of a cause for combined celebration, uniting both Millfields and Broomgrove schools to work together to come up with the all-important overgrown big green plant.

The ease in which the Friday night crowd took to the crowd participation scene summed up the enthusiasm that the audience had on the evening. The cast including @HazelFunnyFarm, Pete McDonagh, Sara Rout, George McKissock, Anna Chernova, Rosie McDonagh, Sally Knight and many fine younger generation rising stars, all made this a show that you wanted to become involved with.

Any panto that has a Meat Loaf as the central musical thread, as well as an opening scene where a cow delivers a huge great cowpat has to be a show to celebrate. There was even fighting talk on the way from @AnnaJCowen of treading the boards herself next year. All my sneering and cynicism (actually, chuckling) can’t keep the girl away.

We need to have a chat about those over ripe melons first…