³ÉÈËÂÛ̳

Crampons of Fear!

Eastern Angles' Christmas offering never fails to please. Always full of wit.ÌýLoaded with dreadful puns. Audience participation obligatory. Great time had by all.

But what stands out year after year, this company's Unique Selling Point, is the indefatigable ingenuity of the cast, the directors, and the production team.

The Sir John Mills Theatre is delightfully tiny. Impossibly small. Yet here we are, looking at a vast mountain range by night – then a train – then a bridge over a ravine – then a castle –Ìýa gondola – a chairlift – the exterior of Big Ben!

Wonderful use of silly props, simple furniture and the occasional rat in a basket!

Umpteen characters are portrayed, using stupid amounts of versatility, by five brilliant actors who also change the sets, play all the instruments, and probably tidy up the car park during the interval too. I'll have a pint of what they're on.

Sandy Buckets (Tom Peters) with friend

There are some old favourites in the cast (including a furry one), every one of them putting in superb performances. But special praise for Tom Peters who alternates some great knockabout nonsense with some really quite scary moments, as the theatrical ventriloquist not quite in control.

Standing out even more this year, in my opinion, is the cleverness of Julian Harries's script. Hilarious and cringeworthy as usual, but deftly based on myriad themes of Alfred Hitchcock and the "terribly terribly nice" kind of spies one might have encountered in the 1930s without ever realising.

Tons of clever references to Hitchcock's finest and scariest moments mix surprisingly well with the panto-style humour. And there's a suitable smattering of jolly hummable musical ditties from the pen of Pat Whymark, who also co-directed the show.

The story is delightfully cunning, desperately cheesy in more ways than one, and the comedy is Milligan-esque in the extreme (eg: a secret code in the form of a series of dance steps performed by a flatulent Scotsman to speeded up music) – and the spot sound effects (also very Goon Show) are beautifully integrated with the live action.

Although the Ipswich run is selling fast, there’s room for more bums on seats as the show again decamps to Woodbridge in January.

As a change from the trad. panto., or just as a chunk of pure entertainment, this is definitely worth seeing.

Unless you're afraid of heights, of course.

Or rats.

Or ventriloquists.

Or cheese!