Jack And The Beanstalk, Harrogate Theatre

I DON'T know how teacher Mrs Dixon enjoyed this pantomime but the rest of the packed theatre laughed, cheered, clapped, booed and screamed throughout.

"Don't worry," Tim Stedman's Simple Simon told her, "the nightmare's only just begun".

Foolish enough to sit in his eyeline, she was singled out for attention time and time again, much to the amusement of her class. In other circumstances, familiarity breeds contempt. In pantomime, it makes it all the more enjoyable. Nicholas Pegg's script is predictable in all the right ways - the essential panto ingredients are present and correct, and performed with considerable zest and zing.

All the principals have done Harrogate panto before - with Alan McMahon back as Dame - and it shows in the confident performance.

Harrogate Theatre's show scores by keeping it as simple as Tim Stedman's simply wonderful Simple Simon. You expect - and get - corny jokes, recognisable songs, bad poems and slapstick (this year a chimney-sweeping routine).

The production by Lennox Greaves also contains what must be one of the most energetic and lengthy auditorium run-arounds in any show. Where else would you find Jack sitting on your lap or a ghost tapping you on the shoulder?

The goodies - Rebecca Stokes' Jack and Laura Strachan's Jill - aren't too bland, although Tom Peters nearly steals the show as Fleshcreep who, like last year's equally commanding Demon Nightshade, behaves like a frustrated Shakespearean villain.

l Runs until January 7. Tickets (01423) 502116.

The Lad Aladdin, York Theatre Royal

I T takes a lot to upstage York's long-serving dame Berwick Kaler, but a crocodile does it in The Lad Aladdin.

You may be wondering how a crocodile fits into the story. And a trip to Scarborough, an Abba tribute, a slapstick scene in a car wash, a girl playing a boy pretending to be the boy playing her mother, and a tightrope walking act.

If so, you're forgetting this is a Berwick Kaler show and he's a master of combining traditional pantomime elements with madcap humour, inventive comedy and a love for his audience.

The very title The Lad Aladdin indicates this is going to be panto with a twist. This is confirmed by the opening film in which Abanazar journeys to Scarborough to consult Gypsy Nose Nail - played by Jimmy Nail, Kaler's old Spender co-star.

Kaler may be dame, writer and co-director but he's not a selfish performer. Everything is done to please the loyal audience who've been coming to see him in panto for more than 20 years. And his writing plays to the strengths of the by-now regular cast, including Suzy Cooper's delicious Aladdin and David Leonard's Abanazar, a man so evil he steals candy floss from children.

The crocodile, incidentally, is part of Widow Twankey's menagerie and has a comic routine that will reduce you to tears. Crocodile tears, you might say.

There's no doubt that with Kaler and the gang on top form, this is the best pantomime you'll see this Christmas. Or any other, probably.

* Runs until February 4. Tickets (01904) 623568.

Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs, York Grand Opera House

MIRROR, mirror, on the wall - who's the fairest of them all? Not this pantomime, I would humbly suggest.

This venue's pantomime has been steadily improving over the years but stalls with a production that lacks not only the wow factor but that vital festive show ingredient - magic. It's all very ordinary and lacklustre.

The necessary ingredients are there but never quite gel as Simon Barry's production moves forward in fits and starts, happy to bring on the local young dancers whenever the stage is looking a bit bare.

Danielle Nicholls sparkles as Fairy Crystal (and yes, they're still doing a joke about her sister Fairy Liquid) who oversees the proceedings as Anne Nolan's very booable and strongly sung Queen Malevola plots to murder Snow White (real life daughter Amy Nolan).

Aiden J Harvey, as Muddles, works hard to engage the young audience with some success, while Phil Randall's Sarah Spoilit models a succession of colourfully vulgar costumes.

Much is made of the Neighbours heritage of Aussie actor Mark Raffety, a suitably handsome if slightly stiff Prince Valentine, although there were times he seemed to find the whole thing more amusing than the audience.

The seven dwarfs go by the names of Colonel, Growler, Shy, Cheerful, Dozey, Sniffles and Snorer (presumably to avoid paying Disney any money) and are the most unappealing bunch you could ever wish to see.

l Runs until January 8. Tickets 0870 606 3595.