Just as the pews are filled for Watchnight services on Christmas Eve with folk who never darken the doors of a church through the rest of the year, so Scotland's theatres see people at panto-time who have not crossed the threshold since the previous Christmas show.

That makes this time of year extraordinarily important for theatres, not just for the obvious financial reasons, but because the reach of the form, which addresses all those access, inclusion, equalities and audience development issues that arts organisations stretch to embrace with all of their work.

So it is doubly fine to learn that the King's Theatre in Glasgow (Peter Pan this year) has teamed up with the National Autistic Society Scotland to present what is winningly described as a "relaxed" performance on the morning of January 7.

The show will be carefully tweaked to suit people with the sensory and communication disorder, the house lights kept up but low, and chill-out areas for ticket-holders who need to take a break from the action.

And although light and sound effects will be reduced to less alarming levels, the theatre promises that none of the panto sparkle of the usual big show will be lost.

By the Wednesday of the last week of a five-week run of two show days (three today, in fact), it is reasonable to assume that the cast will also be keen on a relaxed performance. The King's show was in the news before it opened to reviewers, because it is already on its third Captain Hook.

Gavin Mitchell was forced to give up the role after an accident on the way to rehearsals for the Glasgow Hydro run of Still Game. Although he soldiered on for those shows, doctors advised that to go straight into the rigours of panto would be a mistake.

His replacement,Warren Brown, best known from Luther on television, then withdrew, so a week ago musical theatre star Alex Bourne was coping with wearing the hook and holding the script he had yet to have a chance to learn.

If this contest between the boy who won't grow up and the pirates was a Scotland vs England rugby match, the saga would be the equivalent of the Sassenachs running onto the pitch with an untried cap at fly half, and you'd be backing the home side to win, no matter whose side Tinkerbell is on. But then that was always how it was going to turn out, of course.

We do play a better style of panto game north of the border, however. There are more of them for a kick off, with Livingston's Cinderella at Howden Park the latest addition to a very long list.

And while what passes for panto in England can sometimes be just a rough familiar narrative slung round the shoulders of a variety show which shoehorns in a pop star or "celebrity", Scottish panto audiences demand higher standards of storytelling and are less concerned about seeing someone off the telly.

Scripts by our current masters of the form, Johnny McKnight and Alan McHugh, will be studded with witty pop culture and local references, but they will always work in the service of the show as a piece of glittering theatre.

And when it comes to more straightforward storytelling, Scotland is also peerless: witness the Christmas Carols by the Citizens and, previously, the National Theatre of Scotland.

So if you don't already have a panto ticket, get thee to a box office, or miss out on Scotland's best treat of the season.