Beauty and the Beast

Macrobert's Christmas pantomime relocates Beauty and the Beast to Stirling Stella, a struggling Scottish town where Belle, her family and a cursed prince are drawn into a stolen-rose bargain. Johnny McKnight's script and Robert Softley Gale's production mix panto comedy, big musical numbers and a festive love story.

Belle wants a quiet Christmas away from her over-confident ex, Gaston, while her mother has vanished and the rent is overdue. A rose taken from the crumbling mansion of Wiggerton brings the family into the orbit of its reclusive Beast. The Mainhouse production is written by Johnny McKnight, directed by Robert Softley Gale, with music by Alan Penman, design by Karen Tennent and Jenni Lööf, choreography by Zoe Halliday and lighting by Colin Grenfell. The published cast is Helen McAlpine, Amy Conachan, Stephen Docherty, Kieran Cooper, Nathan French, Kara Swinney and Aidan MacColl, with Natalie Tedesco understudying. Runs about two hours. Off-peak tickets are £27 standard/£22 concession (27 November–10 December); peak tickets are £32/£27 (11–31 December), plus a £1.25 booking fee. The relaxed performance is on 5 December at 2pm and the audio-described performance on 9 December at 7pm.