The Telford Panto is bright, bold, brash and brassy - and the crowd loved it. I say ‘crowd’ (rather than audience) because it remined me very much of the big city arena pantos I was taken to as a kid in the 50s. Subtlety was not their style. It was a loud, rollocking afternoon out - just as it is in Telford 70 years later.

To my nostalgic delight some of those age-old routines are still at large. The speciality act this year is Duo Tropical - two spectacular acrobats working with a huge hoop and live fire. Their balancing is pretty heart-stopping with the girl standing on her partner’s shoulders with nothing to break her fall. And they have faithfully revived dear old Charlie Cairoli’s impressive multiple plate spinning act which had the kids wide-eyed in amazement. There was little attempt to weave them into the storyline though, which is loosely based on Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1883 novel.

A beautiful, entranced, magical mermaid tells the tale. Shelley Anne Rivers is a game girl. She spends most of the show with her legs bound inside a fish’s tale - and still does the frantic comedy routines - whilst waiting for handsome Jim Hawkins (a rugged Sean Smith) to give her a kiss and turn her back into a maiden worth catching.

She has a really great singing voice and, indeed, the music is excellent throughout; with lively, well drilled, energetic choreography and super, colourful nautical costumes. It all looks as good as it sounds.

My ten-year-old companion, Eloise, liked the shopping trolley routine best, probably because it involved water pistols aimed at the stalls. (Take a tip and take a brolly). Her favourite character was Silly Billy Bones - played with great gusto by cuddly Carl Dutfield, who bounced dementedly around the stage and seemed to be a magnet for every custard pie.

I was also impressed by Tom Roberts’ carefully measured performance as the red velveted pirate, Long John Silver. He looked rather like an ageing Captain Sparrow and was careful not to be too frightening for the little one; more cunning than fierce.

The Dame is Ian Smith (who also skilfully directed the spectacle) and he has a brilliant wardrobe of outfits ranging from a giant sandcastle to an ice cream cone. Like his frocks, he’s both loud and proud. Frankly, rather too many of the jokes are questionable for a family show. But he showed his softer side when dealing with a hyperactive six-year-old lad who was invited up on stage for the usual kiddie’s spot. He was in danger of de-railing the whole show but Ian dug deep into his 20 years of experience to maintain a semblance of control.

The other chaotic moment - in one of the more hectic comedy songs - was when ‘someone’ tripped over a power lead, pulled it apart, and plunged the stage into darkness. ‘How are they going to get out of this?’ I thought to myself. The man at the lighting desk in the audience crossly told them off. So Ian, rather daringly, picked up the two loose ends and shoved them back together again which resulted in a huge explosion. I’ll leave it to you to decide if it was all part of the plot. Clever, though.

The Place is due for redevelopment over the next two years but Mr Smith came out of character to explain that the International Conference Centre is to be customised as a full-scale theatre and so that’s where they’ll be in the interim.

Reviewed by Chris Eldon Lee at Telford Theatre on Saturday 9 December. Treasure Island continues to show at the venue until Saturday 6 January.