One of the saddest statistics of my life - it pains me to admit it now - is that I have spent 25 years in anticipation of a chocolate biscuit. Pantomime is based on tradition, and the greatest tradition of the York panto is the skimming of Wagon Wheels into the audience. I have attended every one of these shows, and never caught one yet.
If you asked somebody to name the most famous Dame of York, they would probably say Judi Dench. Put the question to anyone within range of the city walls, however, and they will tell you that York's most famous dame is Berwick Kaler. People have reached maturity to the accompaniment of his pantomimes. I have measured my life in the four-yearly cycle of Cinderellas, Whittingtons, Beanstalks and Aladdins. It was a Kaler panto that first nourished my youthful desire to become a fairy.
So what has altered over 25 years? Not much. The Wagon Wheels are no longer hurled with quite so much gusto - health and safety issues in the early 1990s prevented them fizzing, Frisbee-style, towards the back rows. (Here's a little-known fact: the director Matthew Warchus got his first job in theatre taping up the corners of Wagon Wheel packets so they wouldn't cause injury.) Otherwise it is remarkable that anything could persist so long and evolve so little. Kaler's show remains a gloriously anarchic rag-bag of the same old gags and sidekicks - über-baddie David Leonard and rubber-legged cohort Martin Barrass shine as usual.
But I really thought Panto 25 could be my year to take the biscuit - and still I came away empty-handed. But there's always next year. Oh yes there is.
· Until January 31. Box office: 01904 623568.
