With panto season well and truly upon us, the Vera Fletcher Hall is breaking the festive mould with a rather unusual offering in the form of a reworked Cinderella.

Buttons, Another Cinderella Story is an adaptation of the classic Cinderella which puts the character of Buttons centre stage.

The show’s writer, director and dame, Jon Savournin, says he wanted to do something a bit different this year.

He says: “I was very interested in looking at traditional pantos in a new way.

“Buttons has never really been at the forefront before and he never gets the girls, so I thought it would be fun to put a spanner in the works and make the whole show about him.”

This will be Savournin’s seventh year directing panto and he is constantly trying to find new ways of revamping old classics.

He says: “The panto still feels quite traditional – we’ve got all the usual classic panto lines and slapstick – but there’s a twist in the storyline.

“You still have a transformation, like in Cinderella, but this time it’s Buttons who will be transformed.”

Savourin will also star in the show as the dame – a role he loves. He says: “It’s such a great character and I love the connection with the audience that playing the dame allows you.

“There’s been a lot of bad press about dames in pantos recently – lots of directors are choosing not to have the character at all, as it’s no longer deemed politically correct, but I don’t think that’s true at all.”

Buttons, another Cinderella story promises to be an unmissable performance of traditional panto lines and slapstick humour wrapped up in a reworked, controversial version of a classic.

“After all”, Savourin adds. “Panto is all about subversive humour and it would be a great shame if that was lost.”

Buttons, another Cinderella Story; Vera Fletcher Hall, Embercourt Road, Thames Ditton; January 10, 7.30pm; £12.50; call 0844 8848832 or email vfh.tickets@gmail.com.