The Dukes Lancaster pantomime cast and creative team announced

Beauty & the Beast will welcome back the creative team of Daniel Bye (writer & co-director) and Sarah Punshon (co-director), who previously collaborated on The Dukes’ highly acclaimed productions of Cinderella: A Fairytale and Sleeping Beauty.

This brand-new production will provide a thoroughly festive adventure for all audiences, promising to be filled with magic, dancing and songs that everyone will love to sing along to.

Bella and her mother live alone in the countryside, scrimping and saving to make ends meet but not far from their farm, in the forest, there is a terrible secret waiting to be uncovered that has made the land barren.

Kidnapped by the fearsome Beast, Bella discovers that he might not be the mean-spirited creature that she has been told about – and that the curse he is under can be broken.

The production will also see the return of Katie Scott (designer), Ziad Jabero (composer) and Zak Phillips-Yates (choreographer) with the creative team also including Brent Lees (lighting design), Kate Harvey (sound design), Louise Manifold (stage manager), Amy Chandler (production manager), Emily Bull (deputy stage manager), Georgia Leech (assistant stage manager), Ann Preston and Katie Duxbury (wardrobe supervision).

The full cast of Beauty & the Beast is: Andrea Crewe as Mum, Lisa Howard playing Gardener, Ida Regan as Bella, Tarek Slater as Beast and Declan Wilson playing Lionel.

Lisa Howard returns to The Dukes after previously appearing in their productions of Grimm Tales, Pinocchio, Jason and the Argonauts, Robin Hood and Ladies That Bus (co-produced with The Brewery, Kendal, and Theatre by the Lake Keswick) and Ida Regan will be making her professional theatrical debut in the role of Bella after graduating from Manchester School of Theatre in 2020.

The Dukes’ chief executive Karen O’Neill said: “It is so wonderful to be celebrating the Dukes 50th birthday! This is a milestone year for the Dukes and we are so pleased to be sharing it with our team, volunteers, audiences, artists and community.

“The Dukes has been at the heart of Lancaster since 1971 as both a theatre and independent cinema and has achieved so much since then.

“We are so proud of the Dukes’ legacy and thank everyone who has been part of the journey so far. We are so excited for the future and we look forward to creating more memories, creative projects and continuing to be part of what makes Lancaster a great place to visit or call home.

“Thank you to our core funders Arts Council England and Lancaster City Council and to all our supporters, partners, funders, audiences and creative professionals. Here’s to the next 50 years!”

Tickets for all productions are now on sale with tickets available here or by calling the box office on 01524 598500.