It is part of the job of pantomime to parody the fashion faux pas of the previous year; so the royal wedding must have had designers rubbing their hands with glee. Surely Princess Beatrice must have known that her pretzel-shaped fascinator had no business anywhere other than a panto.

Perhaps making Eugenie and Beatrice the template for the ugly sisters is a cheap shot. But even the most traditionally minded pantomime (this is Kenneth Alan Taylor's 28th at this address) has to move with the times; and Nottingham Playhouse has secured the coup of presenting the first pantomime with its own designated hashtag, which puts audience participation on an new platform – instead of shouting out, you can tweet your response.

Yet in every important respect, the Nottingham panto resists innovation. Some supposedly family pantomimes are all smut and self-indulgence; Taylor never fails to recognise that there needs to be a fairytale that the younger members of the audience can relate to. But some of the jokes are so old the cast are obliged to state their provenance: "Winter drawers on – Arthur Askey, London Palladium 1937, ay thang you" announces John Elkington, part dame of this parish, part historian of comedy.

One has to admire the self-sacrifice with which Adam Barlow's besotted Buttons facilitates the union of his beloved Cinders with the handsome Prince: a love triangle summed up by the pre-teen audience singing along word-for-word to Adele's Someone Like You. If you think this is a pleasing development, tweet "oh, yes it is" with hashtag #wheresmyshoe.