It's that time of year again, when crowds make their annual pilgrimage to the Merlin Theatre to watch the pantomimic offering from performing arts students.

And, as ever, we came, we saw and we laughed - a lot! This year's offering was Sleeping Beauty - a cheeky little number that intoxicated the audience.

Never one to miss an opportunity to offer panto with a twist, director and course leader Simon Haslam, a man of a certain vintage himself, made fast and loose with the traditional idea of the handsome prince and the hissable baddie.

In this version of Sleeping Beauty, principal boy - who really was boy in the shape of Chris Webster-Smith - was also a truly comic character, with a mobile face and contortionist's body that lent itself so well to slapstick.

The baddie, on the other hand, came in the guise of Bobbi Wheelhouse, as a particularly sexy bad fairy.

Other highlights were courtesy of Kelly Williams, as the northern Fairy Fanciful, and her sidekick Laura Turner as the delightful Frederica.

Sleeping Beauty herself - imaginatively christened Susie - was Susie Shales, while Christopher P. Tilbury was obviously born the play the dame, with a fantastic line in banter directed at any unfortunate audience member who caught his eye.

His was a tour de force performance, though it's doubtful that he could keep that level of energy up for a long run!

A perfect foil for the dame was Endaf Davies, who made a lovely, understated King Camelot, and a real revelation was 'second baddie' Mordred in the shape of Kristofer Sanders, who moved between oily letch and mummy's boy in the blink of an eye. His powerful singing voice brought great energy to the show.

Music is always a vital part of the shows - and this year college regulars, including Sue Howley, were joined by members of Preseli Pete and the Bluestone Boys, Lloyd Greyshon, a former student; Bob Phillips, who also designed the ingenious and captivating set and Richard Lewis, bringing an extra bit of class to the event.

The backstage crew was made up of students, with Rachel Hickman as musical director, and Wendy Dyer, whose ace skills with a needle and thread produced some fantastic costumes.