Oh, what a beauty - Scarborough's Stephen Joseph Theatre's annual Christmas show really rocks

This year writer Nick Lane, who also directs, gives the audience, whose expectations after Aladdin, Jack and the Beanstalk and the award-winning Beauty and the Beast are sky-high, his trademark, deeply dippy take on Sleeping Beauty.

Silly and shambolic, the plot defies description and, anyway, to give away too many of its secrets would be like pulling a cracker without the bang – a crying shame.

It mixes fairy tale tropes with science fiction, pop and rock anthems with easy listening and Sixties chart-toppers. Characters burst through time portals while singing Mr Sandman – it takes genius to mix and match in this way and produce merry, magical mayhem

Plot-wise – best to hang on to the fact that 12-year-old Molly, who lives in Scarboria, is cursed by a wicked fairy and has to wake up before Christmas Day. If she misses the festive deadline, she will sleep for 100 years.

What a hippopotamus, a soggy sock, a pat of butter, a trolley load of cuddly toys, a chicken and a fluffy robin have to do with it, you will have to go and find out for yourselves.

Lane throws in all the ingredients the Scarborough audience have come to love – including the local references that celebrate the town and make it unique. The Stephen Joseph’s Christmas show is all ours and we love Lane for his annual gift to us.

A cast of five – Jacob Butler, Amy Drake, Annie Kirkman, Oliver Mawdsley and Kiara Nicole Pillai – bring Lane’s weirdly wonderful world to life.

Butler plays Molly’s best mate as well as multi-tasking as other characters and Oliver Mawdsley is hilarious as a down-trodden husband and other roles – including a fairy queen’s partner.

Pillai bounces, jumps, dances and skips round the stage. She is a force of energy as the brave heroine Molly, taking on an evil fairy and her henchmen. She never flags.

Outstanding and hilarious is Amy Drake as she morphs from a fairy to furry robin.

Once again, Annie Kirkman, who played last year’s baddie with a take on Maleficent, is the force for bad. Kirkman channels her rock-chick vibe as the evil fairy Crepuscula, stalking the stage in a fairy frock, black wings and matching Bovver boots.

She also has the best song … I will not spoil it by revealing what it is but it is a belter.

There are dance-offs pumped full of pop anthems, wand wars and enough audience participation, including boos and hisses, chants and funny noises, to populate a decade of pantomime seasons.

This is not a traditional panto, though it includes many of its tropes. Underneath the daftness is kindness and a big heart. It treasures family and friendship in whatever form they take and advocates for inclusion and forgiveness.

It’s Christmas, schmalz and sentimentalism are allowed with the sparkles and sequins.

Sleeping Beauty is not a tip-toeing trip through a fairy dreamland. It is a rock and pop-pumped festive hurtle through a chaotic, Christmassy quest – with all the trimmings of colourful costumes, shimmering lights and festive fun.

It is a magical, merry, Christmassy seasonal show audiences can rejoice in.

Sleeping Beauty runs at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until Wednesday December 31. Tickets on 01723 370541 and at www.sjt.uk.com