For many years the LBT has put on a Christmas show in the run-up to the big day ... but never a professional panto before.

These productions have veered from a cast of four improvising with, to put it kindly, a minimalist set, to characters playing brass instruments down a mine.

In short, the LBT has dared to be different to sometimes a mixed reaction with children shuffling around while adults have been left scratching their heads and wondering what is was all about.

Now it’s different again ... but oh-so familiar.

For, believe it or not, the theatre is staging its first ever professional panto.

Yes, it’s traditional with a capital T.

So if you want to suspend disbelief (never more so then in the claim during the show that there is a Prince Charming of Dewsbury – oh yes there is) then this is for you.

It’s directed by Joyce Branagh – you may perhaps have heard of her older brother Kenneth – and comes complete with sisters so ugly they make Quasimodo seem somehow gorgeous.

Actress Nisa Cole – who is perhaps best known for her portrayal of pupil Amy Porter in two seasons of BBC’s school drama Waterloo Road – comfortably fits into the title role of Cinderella in the same way her petite toes snugly fit the glass slipper, giving the role a smiley, heartwarming feel.

The sisters – kind of Little and Large gone drag mad and with names to match in Kylie and Miley Hardup – are played by Richard Hand and Michael Hugo who couldn’t possibly ham it up anymore.

The Dames, Kylie and Miley Hardup, from Cinderella at the Lawrence Batley Theatre. Picture by Peter Boyd

Their make-up – somewhere between Halloween and Dame Edna on a very bad day – clearly hasn’t been done by the people who sort Kate Moss’ visage out.

Natural? No. Unnatural? Definitely.

Funny how you never see the evil Baroness Hardup and the Beyonce unlookalike Fairy Godmother (go and you’ll know what I mean) on the stage at the same time. Not that strange really as both are played by Natasha Magigi to capture her Jekyll and Hyde acting abilities.

Adam Barlow gives Prince Charming a paradoxical mix of shy and nervous yet undeniably laid back while Gareth Cassidy who plays Buttons is something of a gurner. He can do an awful lot with that face of his.

The prince’s sidekick, Dandini (Stephanie Hackett) is broad Yorkshire one minute then comedic Italian the next. Wonder if she’s related to the bloke who plays the policeman in Allo Allo?

Throw in lots of Huddersfield references and a few songs – none more so than the ugly sisters’ heartfelt tribute to their Prince with I Know Him So Well – and you can’t really go wrong.

The chorus are local children and several are with the LBT’s Young Company theatre school.

Cinderella runs until New Year’s Eve. Visit www.thelbt.org.uk or call 01484 430528 for details.

Ticket prices range from £10 to £17 with multi-ticket discounts.