YORK Theatre Royal's once-in-a-lifetime pantomime at the National Railway Museum will be fronted by the familiar four once more.

For Dick Whittington (And His Meerkat), the writer, director and dowager dame Berwick Kaler will be re-joined in his 37th year by his dysfunctional panto family: daft Yorkshire lad Martin Barrass, jolly super Suzy Cooper and the villainous David Leonard.

Vincent Gray, Kaler's "Essex nephew", will be returning for the first time since 2012's Robin Hood And His Merry Mam!, while panto regulars "luvverly" Brummie AJ Powell and Pocklington's own Harry Hughes are back too. Danielle Mullan, Lauren Newton, Jake Lindsay, Charleigh Webb and Jack Lansbury complete the cast.

York Press:

Vincent Gray, pictured in 2012 by Anthony Chappel-Ross

This winter’s pantomime is moving home for one year only to the NRM's Signal Box Theatre, the purpose-built auditorium that housed the York railway play In Fog And Falling Snow and a revival of The Railway Children in the summer.

This temporary home to the Theatre Royal during its £4.1million redevelopment is designed in a traverse configuration with ten rows of seating on either side of the central performance space, which so far has taken the form of a rail track.

What does Berwick Kaler have up his sleeve as he breaks away from his traditional proscenium-arch presentations to face this new challenge in a story that usually involves a trip on the high seas?

"Artistic director Damian Cruden has gone to great lengths to try and get rid of me but his latest effort is quite ingenious," he said. "However, the laugh is on him because I've found a substitute theatre just a couple of hundred yards away from my beloved Theatre Royal: the 1,000-seat Signal Box Theatre at the National Railway Museum.

"So while Cruden is looking for his ancestors below ground, me and ‘me babbies and bairns’ will be enjoying Dick Whittington (And His Meerkat), which promises to be a hilarious and unique experience."

Designer Mark Walters is on track to design the set and costumes; Richard G Jones returns to design the lighting; the music will be directed by Elliot Styche and the choreography created by Grace Harrington. As ever, Damian Cruden will be providing directorial support to Mr Kaler, now crowned by BBC1's The One Show as Britain's longest-serving dame.

Tickets are on sale from York Theatre Royal's De Grey Rooms box office, in person, or on 01904 623568 or online at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk