THE Royal Shakespeare Company's Winter season at Stratford opens this week with the return of last year's successful family show Beauty and The Beast.
Written and directed by Laurence Boswell, this year's production has been "substantially re-imagined" and contains new characters and songs.
Suitable for children aged seven and over, the "fairy-tale thriller" follows the story of a young girl who leaves her family for the splendour of the Beast's palace and her discovery of "womanhood, spirit and love".
The cast includes actors from last year's production, together with some new faces. Gary Sefton, who last year played the hilarious mechanical Beast's man, returns as Beast.
A spokesman said: "Gary's acrobatic and climbing skills will bring the Beast to life in a highly visual way.
"Beast will climb across and walk down the back wall and use special jumping stilts, which allow him to take two-metre leaps and run at 20mph."
Young Welsh actress Karen Paullada makes her RSC debut as Beauty. Recently seen on TV in Hearts of Gold, her theatre credits include a tour of The Blue Room.
Other cast members include Miltos Yerolemou as Beast's Man and Jan Pearson as Helene and The Witch.
Beauty and The Beast runs at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre from November 15 until January 16, with performances at various times.
Tickets, priced £5-£32 are available from the ticket hotline on 0870 609 1110 or online at www.rsc.org.uk
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article