Going to see Cinderella wouldn’t be my first choice for Wednesday night entertainment – the tale of a princess falling in love at a ball wouldn’t make it anywhere near my Netflix watchlist, and having seen too many Cinderella pantomimes for any child, on too many a pantomime school trip, I thought I knew exactly what to expect. But was I in for a surprise!

I was blown away by how refreshing and fun it was to watch this pantomime. It’s a long time since a story had me completely engaged from start to finish – I certainly didn’t expect it would be a Cinderella story making me say this...

With wit, brilliant writing, stellar performances from the whole cast, bombastic theatricality and an explosive atmosphere from start to finish – the show exceeded my expectations. With top-quality performances you’d expect to see on Broadway, each actor made their West End-worthy performances look effortless.

With harmless hilarious jabs at local culture, current events and life in Aberystwyth, the local twist made an already refreshing take a uniquely enjoyable experience for any local or Aberystwyth lover.

The show had droves of tongue-in-cheek jokes about years-old local legends and topical issues – a running buffet is ground to a half by a 20mph sign and a one-legged monk of Mach scares Cinderella’s ugly sisters – nothing was off limits in the show’s slapstick satire.

The pantomime seamlessly and humorously brought Cinderella into the modern world in more ways than one, somehow managing to organically include Ru Paul, TikTok, Versace, the Kardashians, mobile phones and water guns into the fairy tale setting. Always amusing, not once did any of it feel forced, nor detract from the tale being told.

The performances of the main characters – Cinderella (Becca Riches), Prince Charming (Alex Neil), Baron Hardup (Nick Allen), Baroness (Theresa Jones), Fairy Godmother (Donna Richards) and the explosively engaging Buttons (Sion Wyn), Cherry Tart (Julie McNicholls Vale) and Dandini (Carl Ryan) – were outstanding, and backed by a consistently high standard from everyone else.

I was amazed by other elements of the show, like the deliberately unnamed villager number 3 (Gruff Crimes) suddenly having - and being gently mocked for – a speaking role. The non-speaking characters in the chorus also ensured no matter where on stage you looked, the story was always being told. And it was a feat in itself how quickly characters changed outfits, particularly the ugly sisters, who had a wardrobe of exceedingly extravagant one.

I had doubts about including a raffle, birthday celebrations and special messages in the show after intermission, but the cast’s energy and delivery turned something that could have broken the atmosphere and pace of the show into an engaging and enjoyable inclusion in its own right.

Brilliant improvisation, and jokes were seemingly conjured on the fly. There were consistent world-class blends of humour and fast thinking, particularly from the ugly sisters, (Richard Cheshire – who also wrote and directed the show), Ioan Guile and prince’s servant Dandini, (Carl Ryan) who stole the show for me. And the chemistry between the sisters, Dandini and Cherry (Ryan and McNicholls Vale) and Cinderella and the Prince (Riches and Neil) was electric.

In pantomime comical blunders are sometimes written in, but if some of those blunders were real mistakes, they were handled so brilliant you could never truly know what was planned and what was simply a masterful recovery. Ultimately, I don’t care. Those moments were some of the top ones in a show that consistently shone from start to finish.

I am definitely not this show’s target audience, but do I think you should go and watch it? Oh yes I do!

Cinderella continues at Aberystwyth Arts Centre until Saturday, 27 January.

Watch the video above to see a snippet of the show.