The plot stays fairly faithful to the story as we know it. Having lost al his money and been catapulted into poverty, Beauty’s father stumbles upon the beast’s garden. On leaving he takes a rose to give to his youngest daughter, but this small act of theft angers the beast and he demands a high price in return. Beauty’s father must send her to the beast’s castle in his stead. Once there she gradually falls for the beast’s charms, but only a heartfelt declaration of love from her can break the curse the beast has been placed under.

Given that this is a Told By An Idiot production, this is not a straightforward retelling, instead it is an occasionally inspired but often frustrating take on the familiar tale. One of the most obvious tweaks to the material is the casting of Lisa Hammond as Beauty. Hammond is of restricted height and her character occasionally uses a wheelchair. It was refreshing to see conventional ideas of beauty upended in this way, and, crucially, it never felt forced or gimmicky. However while Hammond’s performance was consistently warm and natural, this was often at odds with the broad panto acting on display elsewhere. But then that’s the catch with such a role: being pure of heart doesn’t make for many great comedy moments.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Beauty’s ugly sisters, Brioche and Bridget, played by Nick Haverson and Told By An Idiot co-founder Hayley Carmichael respectively, were pure panto in their taffeta skirts and bad wigs. But their approach was not representative of the show as a whole and there seemed a real sense of confusion as to what tone to adopt - over whether to pitch it purely for kids or to make the show into something that was equally appealing to adults.

As a result, many jokes and references felt rather shoe-horned in, amusing on their way but an uncomfortable fit. Other scenes lingered for far too long, until even the older members of the audience were fidgeting in their seats.

Only Javier Marzan as Beauty’s loyal dog Kronenbourg consistently hits the right tone, with his winks and asides to the crowd. He stopped the production from flagging, which it threatened to do on more than one occasion. Having said that, there were plenty of children in the audience and most seemed caught up in the story and to be enjoying the more over-the-top elements, though some younger ones I spotted seemed to be rather startled and scared by the early appearances of the beast (the Lyric advises that the show is best suited to the over 7s).

Leo Wringer’s beast is rather fearsome, especially when he first appears, spattered with blood and munching on an animal carcass. It’s like a scene from a far, darker more grown-up production. Adult members of the audience may be distracted by the Papa Lazarou voice adopted by Wringer in his beastly state, and find themselves waiting – fruitlessly, it turns out – for him to say “You’re my wife now” at some point in proceedings.

The show is sufficiently entertaining to pass a couple of hours, and will keep kids happy enough, but its uneven tone means that it’s far from classic Christmas fare.

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