Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum! Quay Arts doesn’t usually get involved in a seasonal pantomime, but this is not just panto, it is the Ballyrags Comedy Club’s first ever panto. And you’ll kick yourself if you miss the chance to catch this one.

Set in the Filthy Swab, a tavern in Newport run as a fair establishment by landlady Mrs Hawkins with her son Jim, played by a flamboyant Proud Mary and a starring turn by young Charlotte Clark. They must deal with a mysterious pirate guest, Rebecca Roncoroni’s rum-soaked Billy Bones slumped in a chair late at night.  All the pirate cliches are here – swashbucklers, buccaneers, eye patches and greed for buried treasure. Young Jim is handed the treasure map, and they all set sail on the high seas, with the mutinous Long John Silver – played by Toby Brown relishing being the panto villain – taking charge, with chaotic results.

If you want to take the family to a pantomime your choice is usually a big theatre and celebrity actors, or a local polished performance with all the expected trimmings – big dance numbers, high energy pop songs and gangs of kids. Ballyrags have steered clear of the usual, and have put on what I can only describe as ‘Fringe Panto’: a small troupe of comical actors, accompanied by a banjo, performing close to the audience and relying on the strength and charisma of the performances.  There are no gimmicks or shiny floors here – this is authentic stagecraft, occasionally improvised, and it is hilarious as well as endearing.

The set jokes were straight out of a cracker, but in addition writer and director Luc Valvona created some wonderful characters to move the story along. Ollie Fry – on top form as wannabee buccaneer Pirate Pete – held the whole thing together with his vast experience of performance and brilliant ability to get the audience on side.   Martin Osborne’s PC Verald, a German officer dressed in black and red, bossing the pirates about, was the straight man we needed to balance out the mayhem. But it was the Master Detective Ben Gunn – played with aplomb by Victorian Rapper Baron Fortitude – who stole the show in the second Act. Having been marooned on the island many years earlier, with only his associate Perriworth (comparisons with a gentleman’s Willson from ‘Castaway’) Ben Gunn utilised his superior detective skills to save the day. And everything was resolved, with all the pirates planning to return to the harbour to spend their treasure winnings on the streets of Newport before Christmas.

The mark of a good panto is audience participation and appreciation, and we all got involved throughout with the ubiquitous “it’s behind you! Oh no it isn’t!” so ticks all round. The couple of teenage boys sat along with me laughed the whole time – which is a pretty high benchmark. But I would have loved to see the theatre seating pushed back, and replaced by cabaret style chairs and tables, to emphasise the Comedy Club atmosphere. But no matter – a gem of a show, highly recommend, more panto like this please!