You snooze you lose - what we thought of Sleeping Beauty at Sunderland Empire

Curtain is up on this year’s Empire panto which is thigh-slapping us to a mystical land far, far away called MackemLand where the cursed titular heroine is holed up in Hylton Castle as her family rid the land of spinning wheels.

All but one remain, but surely she doesn’t have the misfortune to stumble across that one pesky needle....

Empire pantos have really hit their stride over the past few years and this year’s is sprinkling some real West End sparkle on Wearside - as well as all your favourite panto tropes.

There’s no big soap star in this year’s show, but it doesn’t need one (they’re not always that good anyway).

Instead, we’re treated to some really great acting and comic timing all wrapped up in Tom Whalley’s excellent witty writing.

Not content with penning the show, Tom is also one of its stars.

He and his ever-glamourous sidekick, Miss Rory, are staples of the Empire panto now and this year their chemistry was on point as the very silly Vesta the Jester and his incredibly tall mam, Rorina the Cleaner - oh, what a lovely pair.

Ever the glamour puss, Miss Rory and her sharp tongue are a delight, as are her outfits, from a dress made of rubber gloves to a sparkly footy number and a bodycon that wouldn’t look out of place on The Kardashians.

Keep up with their one liners which come at you thick and fast if you can - particularly in an Apple Watch scene in which they whizz you through songs faster than you can scroll on Spotify.

But Miss Rory isn’t the only grand dame in town - West End actor Jordan Lee Davies is deliciously camp as Carabosse who snarls and leg kicks her way across the stage like some kind of madcap Maleficent.

Meanwhile, there’s a touch of the Monty Pythons about Prince Vincent (played by Channel 5 Milkshake! presenter, David Ribi) as he canters around on his trusty steed, coconut shells a clapping.

As Miss Rory points out, drama school really paid off for our sleeping heroine Evelyn Hoskins who’s got great projection and turns the tired old heroine role on its head with her cropped hair and sword fighting. It’s she who saves the day in the end.

Impressing with her rhyming couplets is Call the Midwife’s Laura Main who’s swapped her nurse outfit for the sparkle and lovely Scottish lilt of Fairy Snowfall.

As you’d expect from this production, which has some triple threat actors, the music scenes are particularly good this year, with tracks such as The Dead Dance from Wednesday, Raye’s Where Is My Husband and Golden from K Pop Demon Hunters.

I particularly enjoyed the Sweet Dreams mash up with Seven Nation Army and Rorina’s Evitaesque Don’t Cry For Me I’m the Cleaner, which she belted out from a balcony to open act two with more melodrama than Madonna.

Local lad Tom weaves in plenty of local references with a knowing wink and the Ghost scene was really well done with a Lambton Worm twist.

The cast really are walking in a winter Sunderland this year - and it’s a real hoot.

*Sleeping Beauty is at Sunderland Empire until Sunday, January 4. Running time is around 70minutes for each of the two acts.