CHRISTMAS isn’t a time when we want to think about politics and pinched purses, but if you live in the Yeovil catchment and one of your favourite festive treats has been a visit to the Octagon pantomime (moved last year to Westlands), you won’t have missed the fact that the Arts Council part funded plans to renovate and modernise the Octagon have been caught in the net of Somerset Council’s financial emergency and the general difficulties that have followed Johnson, Truss, Sunak and on into Starmer.

Cut a VERY long story short, and the annual Yeovil Christmas show is back at Westlands while the Octagon’s future is sorted by the Town Council, and the regular panto company, Evolution, has pulled out of the prospect of another show on the less-than-ideal Westlands stage.

But that hasn’t stopped the Octagon/Westlands local team from not only realising the importance of the pantomime, but pulling out all the stops to create a local-grown show that outshines its predecessors. Jack and the Beanstalk opens at Westlands on 13th December and continues until 5th January. This year’s choreography has been devised by Yeovil’s James Bamford, who will also be dancing with the ensemble.

The company includes last year’s dashing Prince Charming Mark Lamb as Jack Trott, with Daniel Page, up from Exeter, as his mother Dame Trott, Kevin James as his brother Billy. Lizzie Bea is Princess Jill, and Alana Robinson is Fairy Motown. The arch baddie, giant’s henchwoman Desdemona, is played by Georgie Macaskill.

The colourful and spectacular re-telling of the story of Jack and his coming of age as the hero of the village rather than the lazy boy who really can’t be bothered about selling Daisy the cow for a good price, will be full of music and fun. Look out for fast-growing beans and make sure you hide any “blood of an English man” odours in the auditorium.

This is a show for all the family, with lots of audience participation, singing, booing, sheltering from irrigation systems and of course, it all comes right in the end.