An entertaining and pacey version of one of the oldest themes opened Burgess Hill Theatre Club’s 50th anniversary pantomime season.

Origins of Mother Goose lay in ancient Greece but modern was mixed expertly with traditional at the first show at Martlets Hall, Burgess Hill, on Friday night.

In these days of children allegedly glued to computer games and suchlike the busy cast proved you can hold their attention with live entertainment.

All you need to do is pour as much heart and soul as irrepressible Peter Gooding (Mother Goose) wise-cracking Matt Roberts (Johnny) and the whole cast generated in this charming and witty production.

There were family links. Today’s young cast members Cydney Wilson and Amy Somerville have grandparents who appeared in the club’s first Mother Goose in 1968 and its first panto in 1966, Puss in Boots. This time grandmother Liz Batten saw daughter Hannah joined her own daughter Cydney in the senior chorus as a stand-in, and Norma Somerville watched granddaughter Amy draw cheers as Fairy Fortuna.

This is a show to amuse all generations, with saucier adult jokes flying as high as geese over the heads of the youngsters, and plenty of deliciously juvenile slapstick on eye-catching sets.