Whilst many envy the Rocky virgins of this town, I pity the pantomime first-timers. The number of St Andrews students who just don't understand the joys of the British institution that is pantomime distresses me on a daily basis. I pride myself on being the opposite. Maybe it's the anticipation of the end of exams and going home for Christmas, but I have embraced the onset of pantomime season with open arms. And what a welcome into the Christmas season it is! The Three Mini P

TWO is a play about love, loss and betrayal – and Mermaids’ latest rendition left me suspended between laughter and stunned melancholy. Jim Cartwright’s script unfolds in a small-town pub, the lives of its drinkers and owners revealing the quiet tragedies behind everyday love. As I sat in the buzzing Barron for the opening night performance, my expectations were blank. The cartoonish set — a bar drawn in thick, newspaper-like outlines, with matching chairs and an all-green wa