Featuring a fairy tale princess-in-distress, a handsome rockstar prince and a stage full of weird, wonderful and colourful characters, the Marown Players pantomime show Rapunzel proved a hit with kids and families alike.

Performed over four nights at Marown school, Rapunzel starred Alice Willoughby as the follically-challenged princess, who skillfully managed to negotiate the stage with a spectacular 18 foot braid of hair attached to her real hair.

She was forced to live in a tower, imprisoned by the witch Gothel, played by Carolyn Elliott, who clearly had a ball on stage, cackling and shrieking curses with terrifying glee.

Rapunzel was eventually whisked away from her tower by Prince Frederick and his side-kick Frankie, played by Ben Crookall and Katie Willson, aided occasionally by the comedy duo Curly and Bob, played by Gillian Bowers and Lloyd Jones, who particularly stood out with a laugh-out-loud scene involving a couple of mops, and the pair of bumbling fairy godfathers, played by the frequently-hilarious double act of Andrew Lodge and Andrew Willoughby.

The jokes came thick and fast, eliciting groans and giggles in equal measure from the packed house, especially from the panto dame, played by Dave Butler, who sported his own spectacular head of hair.

With well-crafted scenes of slapstick, comedy and farce, interspersed with well-crafted song and dance numbers, which involved many of the younger members of the cast, the show was another triumph for the community group, who create everything for their productions from scratch, as was shown by the skill and inventiveness that went into making Alice’s huge hair, which itself deserved a standing ovation.