Something curious happened in Marown last weekend. Something very curious indeed.

A sassy White Rabbit dragged a spellbound Alice and her mother down through a rabbit hole and into a magical world, populated by the strangest of characters.

The Marown Youth and Community Players production of Alice In Wonderland turned the classic tale into a fun-filled, wildly entertaining pantomime packed with the story’s familiar main characters, and with some other less well-known names, all brilliantly realised with plenty of panache and imagination.

The central characters of Alice, Dame Millie and the Joker were all well acted. Sophie Elliott portrayed Alice with a lovely wide-eyed sense of wonderment and bafflement, and was generally beautifully engaging in every scene she was in.

There was a great turn by Paul Craine, unrecognisable as the panto Dame, Millie, and the Joker, played by Gillian Bowers, provided some suitably wince-inducing jokes throughout the night.

However, the stand out performances had to be the two bumbling brothers Tweedledum and Tweedledee, played with terrific energy and comedic timing by Andrew Lodge and Andrew Willoughby.

They were genuinely funny and each scene was a delight to watch.

Another great standout moment was the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party. This was played, again, with terrific energy by Lloyd Jones as the Hatter and Ben Crookall as the March Hare, complete with a surprising bit of scenery mechanism, managing to turn the six foot four Sean Doyle into a dormouse.

This whole scene crackled with madness and verve, and gave the play a real sense of craziness.

Alison Lodge produced the show, and also played one of the panto villains, the Queen Of Hearts. Both the Queen and the Knave of Spades, played with cackling gusto by Graham Crowe, had the audience booing and hissing to their heart’s content.

She paid tribute to the many who worked hard to make this year’s panto run a success.

’A big thanks has to go to Sonia Quayle the director,’ said Alison. ’Her vision and creativity is amazing, and she spends so much time with every single character.

’Sonia and I had been working since last summer on the production. Scenery changes are difficult on such a small stage, and we really had to think outside the box on this one.

’The Mad Hatter’s tea party was choreographed to an inch, and it took a lot of rehearsing, but it was a fabulous scene. All the performers did so well with it. It was all really good fun to do.

’Everybody involved really stepped it up a notch this time around. Everyone played their bits so well, and the backstage crew kept everything going smoothly.

The children were fantastic too, and we were very pleased with it.’