When I first heard that St John’s School, Marlborough, were putting on a pantomime entirely run by students on a minimal budget I have to admit I had my doubts. Within minutes of the show starting my scepticism had faded.

Alice in Wonderland the Panto’s profits are being split equally between the Savernake Appeal, Mind and Wiltshire Young Carers.

At first the audience was a little rusty on their panto protocol but it took Carys Muirhead-Davies (The White Rabbit) no time at all to warm them up.

Alice was played by Rachel Burnett who also interacted well with the audience. When Malësor Bardhi and Rhys Rowlands came on stage as Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum dancing to Buttons by Pussycat Dolls I was crying with laughter. In the second act they proved just as good at ballet as at twerking.

Matty Wright was perfectly cast as the Cheshire Cat, contributing greatly to the comic quota. Luke Shields and Connie Wells also put in strong performances as the Mad Hatter and the Duchess.

Chrissy Lightowler was brilliant as the pantomime villain, The Queen, maintaining just the right balance of sass, humour and fear.

A special mention has to go to the staff involved in the panto, IB coordinator Leslie Spencer who played the Rosebush, assistant director of science Ben Cobbold who donned a dangerously sheer pair of tights for Robin Hood and director of science Jonny Friend, in a pink dress and blonde wig as the Fairy Godmother.

The production may have had a shoestring budget but it certainly didn’t show.