Let's partyand who needs telling twice. Certainly not the cast of this year's Brewery panto as they rock and roll, jig and jive, and generally look like bringing the house down.

And judging by what I spied during rehearsals, I'll eat my hat if they don't have the audience bouncing during Cinderella, which runs from Thursday, December 11 until January 3.

Former Blackpool showgirl Deborah Bouchard, now a TV regular appearing in such gems as Clocking Off, the final series of Cold Feet, and Family Affairs, plays Prince Charming, showing off her impressive 34-inch inside leg (without heels) to camp funny man Jean Claude van Dum.

"Jean Claude - he's camper than a Volkswagon," claims choreographer Helen Moffit, a Brewery favourite and the Kendal Arts centre's dance development officer, who plays the Fairy Godmother Duncan Johnston, who plays Jean Claude, has been performing since he was eight. Aged 22, he has made several television appearances, including Playing the Field, and loves performing in musicals.

From what I saw the whole comic crew sound good on the vocal front, including, the Youth Chorus.

Like last year's Brewery pantomime, Cinderella is not just slapstick. It is skilfully honed comedy laced with marvellous melodies created by the winning partnership of composer Richard Allen and writer Sam Mason Two grousing panto dames, hell bent on finding husbands and vying for the affections of the Prince, are ugly sisters' Hernia (Jon Adamson) and Viagra (Simon Yaxley).

Jon often pops up on the small screen in the likes of Emmerdale and At Home with the Braithwaites and has a long list of theatre credits, including Hull Truck: "What's great about Sam's script is it's not just gags, it's character driven," he tells me.

Simon is the other wicked wench on a manhunt. An accomplished theatre and TV actor, he has teamed up with Jon before and both enjoy the knockabout humour and Little and Large comedy style.

John Carter's Buttons is heart broken - he thought Cinderella was carrying a torch for him. Turns out he's way off the mark. Maybe it's to do with his romantic approach to Cinders: "You look better than a champion whippet, better than a pint of John Smith's or better than Alan Shearer scoring in the last minute of the cup final."

But it will take more than that to keep the lad from County Durham down. These days John is based in London where, in addition to his theatre and radio credits, his television work includes Eastenders.

Ditching her rags for a nice frock is delectable Cinders, played by the charming actress Maeve Larkin.

Her first visit to Kendal was with the RSC in The Comedy of Errors. She has since worked with Alan Ayckbourn, has performed at The Dukes, Lancaster, and last year spent seven months acting with the Theatre by the Lake team at Keswick.

What a splendid Dandini Naomi Blenkarn makes. Among her many stage appearances she has worked as a performer and parade dancer at Euro Disney (Paris) plus lead roles with Fevered Sleep Physical Theatre Company as well as Alison in the Shelbourn and Thomas hit Adrian's Wall.

One of the region's finest funny men Steve Hall plays Baron Hardup. Best known for side-splitting moments such as Bob in Adrian's Wall, the Persian peddler Ali Hakim in Oklahoma, and umpteen barrels of laughs with Burneside's players (BATS), he completes what is a fantastic line-up.

Performance times vary with 2pm and 7pm shows plus four 10am performances.

For further details contact the box office on 01539-725133.