"So you're Sluggit from the council," says Dame Trot.

"Boo," goes the audience at The Theatre, Chipping Norton, taking the hint immediately.

But to give him his due, Sluggit doesn't just hide behind his office desk -- he actually risks visiting the Dame and her son Jack.

"I'm going to get rid of your hovel," he sneers.

Back in 1989, when this production was first staged, council priorities were clear. "We want to redevelop your hovel into new shops and a multi-screen cinema," Sluggit tells the Trots. And in 2002? Just last weekend, the Daily Telegraph reported that a pretty cottage, actually known as 'The Hovel', could be flattened if Gatwick airport received a new north runway.

Such issues are, thank goodness, confined to the rather adult-orientated first few minutes of Jack and the Beanstalk.

Soon the magic mounts as the great green plant whooshes skywards with a thunderous roar -- to the evident alarm of one very small member of the audience, it must be said.

Up climbs Jack, to meet giant Maxmillian Megafeller (Andrew Lawden, properly bad-tempered) and his downtrodden wife (vividly portrayed by Angela Ridgeon).

Poor girl, she's desperate, for there is nothing that Max likes more for his Sunday dinner than a plump, roasted boy.

But Jack has escaped, leaving only the distinctly unappetising Sluggit (a splendidly stuck-up performance from Alex Maclaren) available for the oven.

However, in these politically correct times, not even a Sluggit deserves a roasting, so Max goes hungry.

Meanwhile down at ground level Dame Trot (Stirling Rodger, plainly enjoying his debut as a dame) has nosey neighbours (Daniel Coll and Julie Hobbs -- she's a dead ringer for Hyacinth Bucket) to contend with. Their daughter Rose (Debbie Manuel, splendidly feisty) fancies Jack (Steven Butler, suitably gormless).

You can imagine what her parents think, especially when they discover that Dame Trot has a cow living in her kitchen.

As always with a Chippy panto, there are throwaway sweets, and tremendously colourful sets and costumes.

Some of the singing could be stronger, but this hardly detracts from a bright, fun show.

GILES WOODFORDE