The London Bubble's delightful annual pantomime has become something of an institution, providing central London with its only real panto - and without resort to a single soap star or failed pop idol. It's almost a contradiction in terms: a low-key, intelligent pantomime done with more dash than cash, with a proper story, wit instead of innuendo, and some well-thought-out audience participation.
You can tell that this is a company used to working in the community rather than one that puts up a secure fourth wall between itself and its audience. It's this quality that makes Bubble's work so suited to the wonderful theatrical journeys they undertake around London's parks in the summer, and to the panto form that is inclusive rather than exclusive. And the reason these pantos work is because they are always so wholehearted. You never get the impression that anyone involved in them is making anything other than the kind of theatre they want to make.
As always with Bubble pantos, you get something different from the norm. Here it's a giant marrow on wheels rather than a coach and horses that takes Cinders to the ball, and a dame who, as Cinderella's mum Florence, expires in the first scene. But not before she has exhorted the audience to look after young Ella, and her bereaved husband to look after the audience: "Consult them in emergencies but never let them overstep the mark."
It's the audience, of course, that saves the day (with the help of a giant goldfish - don't ask) when poor Ella is locked in the cellar by stepmother Ruby and her horrid daughters (bland Victoria and massive Alberta, "aged nine but with an eating age of 16") when the prince comes round with the slipper. It's all completely joyous nonsense, but told with real storytelling skill, and performed by a fantastic troupe of actors who double as the band. This is the thinking family's panto that doesn't ask you to throw away your brain at the door.
· Until January 12. Box office: 020-7242 7040.
