The Guardian 31 November 2025

Who needs a flying carpet when you’ve got the bus to Maybole? The high point of Fraser Boyle’s joyful panto comes when Abanazar (Gavin Jon Wright) leaks the location of his not-so-secret lair and the rest of the cast go in pursuit. On public transport. On film. Outside broadcasting was never so funny.

Not that the baddie stands much chance: having stolen the magic lamp and summoned up its four genies (in a show big on community engagement, actors outnumber the special effects), he recklessly squanders his three wishes. Happily, Wright relishes our boos as much as we do. [READ MORE]

By Mark Fisher

MARK FISHER is a freelance theatre critic and feature writer based in Edinburgh and has written about theatre in Scotland since the late-1980s. He is a theatre critic for The Guardian, a former editor of The List magazine and a frequent contributor to the Scotsman and other publications. He is the co-editor of the play anthology Made in Scotland (1995), and the author of The Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide (2012) and How to Write About Theatre (2015) – all Bloomsbury Methuen Drama. He is also the editor of The XTC Bumper Book of Fun for Boys and Girls and What Do You Call That Noise? An XTC Discovery Book (both Mark Fisher Ltd).