A spectacular retelling of the original, much-loved fairytale Beauty and the Beast will take centre-stage at Staffordshire’s New Vic for Christmas 2020, the theatre-in-the-round announced today.
New Vic Artistic Director Theresa Heskins (Olivier-nominated The Worst Witch; The Snow Queen, UK Theatre Award Best Show for Children and Young People) will return to the original versions by Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve and Marie le Perince de Beaumont of the Beauty and the Beast story for her latest Christmas adaptation, which will take to the stage from 21 November 2020 till the 30 January 2021.
Reuniting the creative team from the New Vic’s spectacular productions of the UK Theatre award-winning The Snow Queen, and last year’s The Prince and The Pauper, Heskins’ direction will combine enchanting storytelling with music, humour and her trademark theatrical invention to breathe new life into this well-known tale.
When she is given a beautiful flower from the garden of a stranger, her family unwittingly doom Bella to imprisonment in a castle with a Beast. Bella believes she is there to clean; her sisters believe she’s about to be eaten. When she meets the Beast, what will happen…?
A story about what happens when first impressions are not all they seem, and love and kindness have the power to change the world, this beloved fable has been inspiring young and old for generations.
Artistic Director Theresa Heskins said: “Bringing new life to these classic stories is absolutely what we’re about at the New Vic. I enjoyed discovering the original version of Beauty and the Beast to create this new version for our in-the-round stage. It’s a story about kindness; about love; about not judging people based on outward appearances: themes that feel apt for this time. And it’s about magic, which is exciting to me as a director.”
Beauty and the Beast takes to the stage at the New Vic from Saturday 21 November 2020 to Saturday 30 January 2021. Tickets go on sale from the theatre on Monday 16 March. For more details, visit newvictheatre.org.uk
