This year’s full-on, high energy, thoroughly enjoyable romp of a panto is threatened with closure right at the start when Grandma Hood (Gavin Rutherford) announces that she has received a text from Bill English announcing further financial cuts.

But the show carries on when she discovers a good-looking man (appropriately on opening night named Gavin), who clearly doesn’t know the dangers of sitting in the front row when a “sensual and sultry” elderly lady is on the rampage centre stage, and is competing with her daughter Dahlia Hood (Carrie Green) and her granddaughter Red Riding Hood (Awhimai Fraser) for any eligible man.

Then we discover that The Wolf (Tom Truss) has escaped from the zoo and is hiding in Zealandia. It is being chased by Morris (Jonathan Morgan) and Boris (Jane Waddell), who also crop up throughout the show in various penetrable Marx Brother-like disguises to good comic effect.

There is a moustache-twirling property developer villain, Sir Roger Powerballs Bounder (Patrick Davies), who wants to chop down all the trees and build houses, and a resolute, decent hero, who is an all-singing and all-dancing  self-styled ‘DOC Jock’, called Lance (Simon Leary).

The star of the show is Gavin Rutherford as Grandma who has now played the Dame in a number of pantomimes and has grown into the role so that it fits him so comfortably that he can be compared with David Tinkham’s dame of the Wellington Repertory pantos of the 50s and 60s. He has the same easy rapport with an audience and the essential sauciness of a low comedian.

Roger Hall throws into his frenetic comedy a non-stop stream of trad panto gags, slapstick pratfalls (“Trip Adviser”), sight gags, sound gags, in-jokes (the portrait of Grandma’s dead husband), political jokes, topical jokes, audience participation and comic songs. 

Susan Wilson somehow keeps it all under control assisted by her exuberant cast and hilarious choreography from Sacha Copland, colourful costumes by Sheila Horton, the moonlit sylvan setting by John Hodgkins, which is lit by Jennifer Lal, while the musical direction is by Michael Nicholas Williams and the musician is Oliver Devlin.

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It seems to me that Red Riding Hood, ostensibly a children’s tale despite its bawdy folk origins, is ideal panto material. The genre, much like the Riding Hood tale, layers adult themes and humour under the childish appeal of its presentation: the hammy caricatures, garish colours, corny jokes and playful interactive narratives are traditionally laden with innuendo and adult sub-texts.

The mix can be a little dubious if the show is aimed at children. However it seems that Red Riding Hood manages to tweak the borderline of panto-humour without careering into bad taste, and it comes up with an all-round crowd-pleaser. 

Roger Hall’s Red Riding Hood deftly brings out the pantomime values of the tale and, under Susan Wilson’s direction, true to its folk tale origins, it adapts to the times and the locale. The innuendo factor is pushed a little far at times, with the odd naughty aside falling flat, although there are some snortingly funny running jokes such as the repeated mobile phone gag.

The script abounds with contemporary political jibes (charter schools, Judith Collins, the abolition of smoko) and corny local jokes (“Anyone here from Naenae? Yes? Nae?”) and Wellington references: the ‘woods’ in which Grandma lives turn out to be the Zealandia sanctuary in Karori, where good guy Lance the ‘DOC jock’ (wholesomely rendered by Simon Leary) works as a volunteer. It’s all very rapport-building and the audience loves it.

Grandma Hood (Gavin Rutherford) carries much of the audience-engagement and her comic timing is fabulous. She’s delightfully grotesque and somewhat wolfish herself in her hunt for a man (of course there’s a ‘cougar’ joke in there). Her bed, which enters to the theme of 2001: A Space Odyssey, is literally a member of the cast.

Her daughter Dahlia Hood (Carrie Green) and granddaughter Red Riding Hood (Awhimai Fraser) complete a strong central trio. In contrast to the fairy tale, here it is Red Riding Hood who is the canny one, trying to warn her gullible mother and grandmother away from the property developer Sir Roger Bounder (Patrick Davies), whose secret agenda is to bulldoze their homes and cut down the trees in the sanctuary.

Sir Roger is great fun as the traditional dastardly type complete with sleazy musical theme and villainous moustache. “Boooo!” we all say. Seeing him get his comeuppance from the Hood women is predictably satisfying.

With John Hodgkins’ classy set, some smart costume decisions by Sheila Horton and playful musical direction by Michael Nicholas Williams, the production is extremely watchable. Simple choreography by Sacha Copland adds good visual impact, and Green and Fraser move very well, although the effect is weakened somewhat by the less polished movers in the full-cast dance routine. Exaggerated and repeated gestures with dramatic soundtrack support, such as Sir Roger’s slinky entrances, are used well and become an anticipatory game.

I have to mention Morris (Jonathan Morgan) and Boris (Jane Waddell), a mop-headed pair strongly reminiscent of Thing One and Thing Two from The Cat in the Hat, who are a comic highlight. The wolf (Tom Truss) adds well-placed drama and menace. The little girl behind me is so involved that she cries out “Wolf! Wolf!” with sincere concern for Red Riding Hood when the wolf creeps onto the stage. The little girl’s not too scared though: later she eagerly runs up there with the other children to help Lance sing a morepork song. The cast clearly know how to win an audience.

One thing is obvious: the kids are rapt, and I have to say the total engagement of the children in the audience amplifies my own enjoyment of this quality production.

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