AFTER seeing Dick Whittington from one platform on press night a month ago, it was only right to book a return ticket and take a seat on the other one.

There is no right or wrong side of the track here: York Theatre Royal's ground-breaking cast in Britain's first ever traverse staging of a pantomime makes doubly sure you don't miss anything by the remarkable energy of their unique performance.

Dame Berwick Kaler's Paloma Polony can't resist asking where the other half of the audience has gone: "Behind You" comes the inevitable reply. Later, David Leonard's Herman Vermin does an action replay of his dastardly deed of placing Mayor Cheapskate's chain of office in Dick Whittington's belongings for the benefit of those unable to see it the first time.

The show has become more self-aware, the cast capitalising even more on being within touching distance of the audience, not least when Leonard more than once swishes his rat's tail along a length of the front row...or mounts a rat attack on their sweets.

Audience members in turn feel liberated to join in with their own quips, or by teasing Kaler in the case of a group of line dance enthusiasts, whose very vocal leader was playfully reminded by the dame that the panto was not actually happening in her sitting room.

Yet such is the intimacy of Kaler and Damian Cruden's production that this added familiarity feels right, not least because principal players and viewers have such long service records alike that they are indeed old friends.

AJ Powell is animal magic as Mr Finickerty the meerkat. Keep watching his facial expressions; they are a joy throughout. Dame Berwick's Cheapskates shop routine, involving all the cast paying a visit one by one to his premises, is the stuff of The Two Ronnies or Eric and Ernie sketches at their best. Indeed the interaction between the four old favourites, Leonard, Kaler, Suzy Cooper and Martin Barrass, has a relaxed swagger as swashbuckling as Dumas's French musketeers.

This one-off show transports you beyond its limitations of a linear setting on mobile carts by taking you from London, via Spain, to Africa, with Kaler's bonkers imagination as your engine driver and Mark Walters's set and costume designs adding to the sense of high fantasy.

Full steam ahead for the last few shows, but please make sure you wrap up warm.

Re-View Dick Whittington (And His Meerkat), York Theatre Royal in residency at The Signal Box Theatre, National Railway Museum, York, until January 24. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk