NS Archive 2025: Beauty and the Beast
About the show
A Northern Stage production
By Lucy Kirkwood
Devised by Katie Mitchell and Lucy Kirkwood
“I expect you have been told fairytales before. But you have never really heard a fairytale until you have heard it told by a real fairy.”
A stolen rose spells bad news for our heroine Beauty and her unfortunate dad in this enchantingly wicked retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Families are invited to join our narrators – two mischievous fairies – a ‘Thoughtsnatcher machine’, and a helpful rabbit to experience this tale as old as time in new and touching ways for Christmas 2025.
With music provided by the fleas and flies, lices and louses of the Insect Orchestra, you’ll find yourself in rural France with an eclectic cast of characters as the Prince hopes to lift a disgruntled fairy’s beastly spell.
Northern Stage’s adaptation of Beauty and the Beast puts a magical and hilarious twist on a much-loved story for new audiences and fans of the original tale.
Captioned by Philip Armstrong
Audio Description by Louise Ainsley
BSL interpretation by Caroline Ryan and Irmina St Catherine
Cast
Beauty – Bridget Marumo
Beast – Conor McCready
Pink – Helena Antoniou
Cecile – Lucy Doig
Lettice/Rabbit – Maya Torres
Father – Davey Hopper
Understudy – Chloe Millar
Creative Team
Director
Bryony Shanahan
Set & Costume Designer
Verity Quinn
Lighting Designer
Dan Saggars
Sound Design & Additional Underscore
Annie May Fletcher
Costume Supervisor
Lucy Minta Reeves
Original Songs & Music
Katie Doherty
Animator
Scott Turnbull
Magic Consultant
Richard Essien, aka Magical Bones
Movement Director
Martin Hylton
Casting Directors
Jenkins McShane Casting CDG
Reviews
★ ★ ★ ★ “Nothing short of magical” – The Stage
★ ★ ★ ★ “A vibrant, imaginative circus of colour and craft that fills the stage with pure theatrical joy” – Theatre and Tonic
