‘I’d like four candles, please,” says a customer in Alderman Fitzwarren’s shop, reprising one of Ronnie Barker’s best jokes (now commemorated in the name of JD Wetherspoon’s pub in George Street, Oxford).

It’s a nice touch added to this year’s Chipping Norton panto – Barker was not only a local resident, he also left money to Chipping Norton Theatre.

Fork handles are instantly provided: there’s a blitz on customer service, for Fitzwarren (Paul Lacoux) is suffering from a drop in business.

On slithers King Rat (Shaun Hennessy). “A bit more booing if you like,” he suggests politely – we have yet to discover that he and his nasty relations have frightened Fitzwarren’s customers away: in one of the show’s best scenes, a veritable plague of Pippin (Chippy’s team of young actors) and puppet rats infests the cheese counter.

Meanwhile, like all good dames, Sarah the Cook (Ian Blower) invokes sympathy.` “Look at me weep,” she sniffs, while simultaneously wobbling her sculptured bosoms in the shopkeeper’s direction. Apprentice Idle Jack (Laurence Aldridge) is no use either. “I’m fed up,” he wails as he yearns after Fitzwarren’s daughter Alice (Jessica Ellerby). No wonder Fitzwarren follows the example of many a politician when there’s trouble at home: he plans a trip overseas.

But help is at hand. Tommy the Cat is a champion ratter, and his handsome, wholesome master Dick Whittington (Jason Langley) is consequently found a job in the shop, much to Idle Jack’s dismay. As Tommy, Emma Carroll is the star of the show. Her raised eyebrows and rolling eyes vividly express feline exasperation and contempt for mere humans, without her speaking a word.

The show looks wonderfully wild and wacky – although the attachment of what looked like giant nappies to some of the men might perplex some fashion editors. Designer William Fricker has everything from houses to treasure chests bending at extreme angles, making the tiny Chippy stage look enormous and magical.

The wacky atmosphere hadn’t quite permeated the cast on opening night, however – it’s director John Terry’s first panto, and perhaps that fact, and a short rehearsal schedule, meant that everyone was still feeling their way. Composer Thomas Johnson’s solo songs sometimes proved a challenge, but his choruses went with an infectious swing.

As usual, the Chippy panto sticks firmly to the traditional storyline, a couple of bluish double-entendres notwithstanding. There’s much to enjoy, and no doubt the only person left disappointed as the final curtain falls will be Idle Jack – how could Alice resist his romantic invitation to find yet more rats: “I thought we might go and look at the drains together”?

Dick Whittington and His Cat continues at The Theatre, Chipping Norton, until January 9. Tickets: 01608 642350.