Announcing our panto cast for Beauty and the Beast 2023! Drum roll please…
In the titular role of Beauty, our brave and capable heroine, will be Zweyla Mitchell dos Santos. Zweyla trained at The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Her stage credits include: Tanya: A New Musical (O'Neill & Savage/RCS); The Rhythmics (Southwark Playhouse): Little Bits of Light (Workshop; National Theatre); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Sweet Sorrow Theatre Company); Once the Musical (Let Me In Presents), The Legend of Robin Hood (Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds); The Wolf, The Duck and The Mouse (Aurora Orchestra); The Light Princess (Workshop; LAStheatre); Alice in Wonderland (Liverpool Playhouse & Theatre Royal Plymouth); Zweyla is currently in rehearsals for The Hypochondriac at Sheffield Crucible.
As our fierce, strong and stubborn Beast will be Kofi Dennis. Kofi trained at Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts and his theatre credits include: Grimm Tales for Fragile Minds and Broken People, Duchess of Malfi, Romeo and Juliet & Keeping Up with Kassandra (Creation Theatre - Digital); The Wiz (Hope Mill Theatre); Say Yes to Tess (Leeds Playhouse); Road (Oldham Coliseum); The Tale of the Beauty and the Tail of the Beast (Creation Theatre); Peacock (Greedy Pig Theatre Company); The Standard Short Long Drop (Ticking Clock Theatre).
Kofi’s television credits include: The National Lottery’s Big Night at the Musicals (BBC). Other credits include: Jockstrap R&D (The Production Exchange), Peacock R&D (Greedy Pig Theatre Company) Toxic R&D (Rikki Beadle-Blair – 1623 Theatre).
Playing our extravagant, commanding and charismatic Dame Cherie Trifle is Ben Eagle. Ben trained at the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama. He’s delighted to be ‘returning to the dress’ after several years of “Daming”. His screen credits include Kay Mellor’s The Syndicate (BBC); Ben is also a regular voiceover artist and can be often heard on TV and radio.
His theatre credits include: David Walliams’ Demon Dentist (UK and Ireland Tour); Horrible Histories: Terrible Thames, The Incident Room (New Diorama); Hamlet (USA Tour), Measure For Measure (USA Tour), Aladdin, Dick Whittington, Sleeping Beauty and Robin Hood (Tewkesbury Roses); Alan Ayckbourn’s Neighbourhood Watch (Gordon Craig); Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor & Much Ado About Nothing (Theatre N16); This Was The World & I Was King (Arts Theatre West End); Robin Hood (Chipping Norton); The M Word (Leicester Square Theatre); The Eighth Wonder of the World (Brunel Tunnel Shaft); Animal Farm & 1984 (National Media Museum & Tour); Much Ado About Nothing; Twelfth Night; Waiting For Godot; and A Christmas Carol.
Playing our eccentric and good natured (though easily distracted) Fairy Nuff is Claire Storey! Claire is a classically trained theatre actress with over 30 years of professional work in theatre, TV, radio and voiceovers. Claire’s television credits include: Hollyoaks, Coronation Street, Doctors, and Emmerdale.
Her recent theatre credits are: Molly, Helen and Dor in Road by Jim Cartwright (Oldham Coliseum); Edna Mole in The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole The Musical (Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch); Mrs Viney in The Railway Children (Hull Truck); Sweetie in Grimm Tales (Duke’s Theatre, Lancaster); Ghost of Christmas Present in A Christmas Carol (Theatre by The Lake, Keswick); Malvolio in Twelfth Night & Gravedigger in Hamlet (Shakespeare Rose Theatre, York); Oliver Twist (Hull Truck); Hard Times, The Grand Gesture, The Comedy of Errors & Sweet William (Northern Broadsides); The Cherry Orchard, The Lost Plays Revue, Importance of Being Earnest & Forever Young (Nottingham Playhouse); Arabian Nights (Manchester Library); Animal Farm (Theatr Clywd); Steel Magnolias, Two and Two Make Sex, The Taming of The Shrew, September In The Rain, Relatively Speaking, & Hay Fever (Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch); Dolly (New Perspectives); Twelfth Night (Stafford Castle); Honk, Pinafore Swing (Watermill Theatre, Newbury); Animal Farm (Peter Hall Company); Blonde Bombshells of 1943 (West Yorkshire Playhouse, Bolton Octagon & Hampstead Theatre); Buddy (Strand Theatre & Tour); The Animals (Stratford Circus); Patsy Cline – The Musical (Tour); Elvis – The Musical (West End & Tour); and Peer Gynt (RSC at the Barbican).
In the role of the foolishly preoccupied, yet incredibly inventive, Philippe Philoppe is a young actor and musician from Southport, Harry Gascoigne. Harry graduated from his BA Musical Theatre training at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in 2022. His final year credits include: Lionel in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Ensemble/Actor-Musician in 9 to 5: The Musical and Ensemble/Cover Tobias in Sweeney Todd. Harry’s recent professional credits include: Make A Splash (National Youth Theatre); The Odyssey R&D (National Theatre’s Public Acts); Climate Cabaret (National Youth Theatre); and Stick Man (Freckle Productions).
With a huge passion for live performance, and an advanced level of skill on the saxophone, flute and piano, Harry is always looking for new challenges within the industry. He is delighted to be playing the role of Philippe in Cast’s production of Beauty and the Beast.
The role of our brazen and egotistical baddie Emile will be filled by Max Gallagher. Max comes from Hull and now resides in Manchester. He’s very much looking forward to his Cast debut after playing the Scarecrow last Christmas in The Wizard of Oz (Winchester Theatre Royal). Max has performed all over the world as an actor, including: the Songman in War Horse (UK/Australia Tour & Lyttelton, National Theatre); Mog (The Old Vic); Brief Encounter and The Fall of the House of Usher (Watermill, Newbury); and Richard III (Hull Truck/Northern Broadsides). His creative credits include: Composer/Co-Lyricist/MD for Robin Good (Norwich Playhouse) and Oh We Do Like To Be (HighTide/Turbine); MD for Centralia (Arcola); Tomfoolery (Southwold Rep) and various shows for 1927 Theatre; Second Keys for Dick Whittington (Norwich Theatre Royal); and Arranger for Parade (Unicorn Theatre).
Max’s other acting credits include: Home Fires (ITV); A Christmas Carol (Keswick); James & the Giant Peach (Selladoor Hong Kong/Middle East Tour); The Secret Garden, The Comedy of Errors & Macbeth (Grosvenor Park, Chester); The Duchess of Amalfi’s Steward (Shakespeare’s Globe); The History Boys (Mercury, Colchester); The A-Z of Mrs P (Southwark Playhouse); Love, Lies & Lust (Queen’s, Hornchurch); Frankenstein (Blackeyed Theatre UK Tour); PIAF (Charing Cross Theatre); Jack & the Giant (Chipping Norton); Hello Norma Jeane (Southwold Rep); Rapunzel (York Theatre Royal) and Oh No! Not Snow! (Royal & Derngate).
Beauty and the Beast opens on Thursday 30 November on Cast’s main stage and runs until Sunday 31 December. Tickets are selling fast, especially the weekend before Christmas – book your tickets now:
https://www.castindoncaster.com/whats-on/beauty-and-the-beast-christmas-pantomime-2023/
