THE story of a beautiful woman cursed by a jealous one, and forced to sleep for a century, is as old as time. The first recorded mention was back in the 1330s, revived by French writer Charles Perrault in 1697 and taken by the Brothers Grimm in 1812.

Whatever its history, the tale is a perennial favourite of pantomime audiences, and, in line with the current need to update everything, it arrives on stage at Poole’s Lighthouse this Christmas with an EastEnders and Grange Hill star as the king, whose queen has run off with a plumber from Kinson.

Once again children’s TV star Chris Jarvis has written and directed the show, in which he stars as the dame, Nanny Nutkins. It’s an awful lot for one person to do, especially in a retelling of a familiar story that has SO MANY elements.

Todd Carty is the posh and sonorous King Tucker, left literally holding the baby (his beloved daughter Rose) and quite certain that he doesn’t want the trouble-making Carabosse at the party he’s organising for Rose’s christening. That was his first big mistake.

Jealous that she’s been excluded when her fellow fairies are all on the invitation list, our Carabosse (dramatically played by Sarah Louise Young, whose solo show An Evening Without Kate Bush is a big touring hit) puts a curse on the infant. Of course there’s a good fairy (Melaina Pecorini) to mitigate the promised death into nothing more than a hundred years of sleep – or a kiss by a handsome prince.

The Handsome Prince in this case is none other than Ken from the Barbie movie (delightfully played by Tom Mann). Rose grows up (into Isabella Kibble) on Brownsea Island, with her devoted Nanny and court jester Happy Harry (the multi-talented Josh Haberfield) and hidden from the threat of a spinning wheel.

But there, among the peacocks, is Carabosse … you know the rest.

This pantomime has SO MANY elements that it was clear that some of the younger members of the audience were getting a bit lost. The script has far too much innuendo for the target family audience. Why the disco? Why the decorating?

But it’s colourful, bright with lots of good ideas and sparkling performances – and local boy Josh Haberfield’s song made out of Dorset placenames is a triumph.

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Photographs by Richard Budd