WHEN the Everyman management announced a two-year closure, many people’s first thoughts turned to silly wigs, fairy wings and water pistols.

Could the theatre’s rock ’n’ roll panto survive outside the building that spawned it?

Panic not, for the good news is that, while the walls may be tumbling down to make way for a brand new venue, the panto will survive another year – returning in November, 2011, with a production at the Playhouse.

Before then, fans of stripy tights and the old “Oh no it isn’t” lines can get their fix of silliness at this year’s Sleeping Beauty.

Penned by the regular team of Sarah Nixon and Mark Chatterton, the show stars many familiar faces, including the fabulous duo Adam Keast and Francis Tucker as two pairs of kings and queens, Nicky Swift as her fifth panto fairy and Sarah Vezmar– who played Dick Whittington’s cat last year – as Princess Ruby.

The traditional fairy tale has been given an Everyman twist, with squabbling royalty, shipwrecks and a killer spider (arachnophobes need not worry, it’s actually quite cuddly).