Salisbury Playhouse Reveals Cast for 2026/2027 Pantomime Beauty and the Beast

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Saffi Needham and Tommy Fouweather lead the cast, with Nerine Skinner returning to the Playhouse stage as Ratty.

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Wiltshire Creative has announced the full cast of this year's pantomime Beauty and the Beast, written by Plested, Brown and Wilsher. Director Abigail Pickard Price makes her Salisbury Playhouse debut, working with the same creative team who served up a spectacle for Wiltshire Creative's 2025/26 pantomime Jack and the Beanstalk. She'll be directing a sparkling cast.

Saffi Needham (Disney's Hercules and Oliver!, Theatre Royal Drury Lane; BBC One's Big Night of Musicals) stars as the play's fearless heroine, Belle.

Tommy Fouweather (Half a Sixpence, Frinton Summer Theatre; The Wizard of Oz, Royal Caribbean Entertainment; Rat Pack UK and international tour) stars as the cursed Beast.

Britain's Got Talent semi-finalist and viral parodist Nerine Skinner ( Roald Dahl and The Imagination Seekers UK tour; Faulty Towers) returns to Salisbury after popular performances in previous pantomimes – including Wiltshire Creative's 2018 Beauty and the Beast. This time she'll appear as the Beast's sidekick Ratty, one half of a double act alongside Luke Barton 's Batty. Luke was last seen on the Salisbury Playhouse stage in Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense.

Dan Smith (Little Robin Redbreast and Worst Wedding Ever, Salisbury Playhouse ) also makes a welcome return as loveable Dame Pansy Pocock, after his acclaimed performance as Dame Caroline Trotter in Jack and the Beanstalk.

Leigh Quinn (Little Shop of Horrors, Exeter Northcott Theatre; The Government Inspector, Chichester Festival Theatre; various roles with the RSC) stars as the good Fairy Bumpkin, with Joel Benedict (Blood Brothers UK tour; As You Like It UK tour) as the bad Fairy Tight Trousers.

The cast are supported by Joe Harris (Male Swing) and Phoenix Renee (Female Swing) and a company of young performers.

Designer Katie Lias won the UK Pantomime Award for Best Costume Design 2025 for Wiltshire Creative's Sleeping Beauty and was nominated for Best Costume Design 2026 for Jack and The Beanstalk. She has additionally been nominated for three Broadway World Awards for Best Set Design.

Katie will be working with Lighting Designer Nic Farman , Wiltshire Creative's Sound Designer Michael Scott , Choreographer Julia Cave, and Musical Director/Supervisor Daniel Looseley.

Gareth Machin, Artistic Director of Wiltshire Creative said, 'What a pleasure to welcome back some brilliant familiar faces to the Playhouse stage alongside new talent coming to Salisbury for the first time. It promises to be a fantastic festive season.'

Beauty and the Beast is set to open at Salisbury Playhouse on 2 December, with previews from 28 November, and will conclude on 10 January 2027.

29 November 2026 – 10 January 2027

Press night: 2 December

Salisbury Playhouse

Directed by Abigail Pickard Price

Designed by Katie Lias

Luke Barton (Batty)

Joel Benedict (Fairy Tight Trousers)

Tommy Fouweather (The Beast/The Prince)

Joe Harris (Male Swing)

Saffi Needham (Belle)

Leigh Quinn (Fairy Bumpkin)

Phoenix Renee (Female Swing)

Nerine Skinner (Ratty)

Dan Smith (Dame Pansy Pocock)

Writers: Plested, Brown and Wilsher

Director: Abigail Pickard Price

Designer: Katie Lias

Lighting Designer: Nic Farman

Sound Designer: Michael Scott

Choreographer: Julia Cave

Musical Director/Supervisor: Daniel Looseley

Assistant Director: Hatti Dawson

Casting Director: Natalie Gallacher CDG

Associate Casting Director: Richard Johnston

Company Stage Manager: Jenny Hunter

Stage Manager: Lou Sutterby

Deputy Stage Manager: Katie Galbraith

Assistant Stage Managers: Rachel Bowyer, Leah Yates

Costume Supervisor: Marion Harrison

Lighting Programmer: Thomas Warren

The writers of Jack and the Beanstalk return with a heartwarming tale, bursting with festive magic, featuring pop songs, dancing and dazzling costumes in this family pantomime. The story follows whether the Beast can escape his curse, and whether love will bloom before the final petal falls from the enchanted rose.

Abigail was Associate Director at The Watermill Theatre from 2017 to 2025 and Associate Artistic Director at Charing Cross Theatre between 2018 and 2019.

Recent directing credits include: The Comedy of Errors (Orange Tree Theatre, also adaptor), Jack and Sarah (The Mill at Sonning), David Copperfield (Guildford Shakespeare Company/UK Tour/ Brits Off Broadway , also adaptor), Three Hens in a Boat (Reading Rep & The Watermill Theatre , 2025), Pride and Prejudice (Guildford Shakespeare Company/UK Tour/ Brits Off Broadway , also adaptor; Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Adaptation), Macbeth (The Watermill Theatre , also adaptor), Burke & Hare (The New Wolsey Theatre), Our Man in Havana (The Watermill Theatre ), Just So (The Watermill Theatre ), Sophia (Arcola Theatre), Pen Pals (Rural Arts), The Hound of the Baskervilles (The Watermill Theatre , also adaptor), and The Prince and the Pauper (The Watermill Theatre ).

She has also worked extensively as a director for drama schools and as associate on many productions.

Clare Plested, Adam Brown and Amanda Wilsher are a comedy writing team with over 20 years' experience writing, directing and performing comedy theatre.

Between 1999 and 2011, Plested and Brown were an international touring theatre company who created and performed original comic theatre shows. Supported by the Arts Council, the company had six acclaimed runs at the Edinburgh Festival, ten nationwide tours as well as performances abroad. Their unique brand of comedy garnered an enthusiastic fan base.

Outside of Plested, Brown and Wilsher antics, they work as actors, directors, and screenwriters.

The team have written the last four pantomimes for Salisbury Playhouse and the last five pantomimes for the Corn Exchange, Newbury.

Wiltshire Creative is a performing arts and education charity that brings people together for creative experiences. Based in Salisbury, it produces performances that tour nationally and internationally. Its venues – Salisbury Playhouse and Salisbury Arts Centre – deliver a year-round programme of visiting and home-produced work.

2026 marks the 50th anniversary of Salisbury Playhouse , which was built in 1976. As one of only three producing theatres in Southwest England with its own on-site workshop and wardrobe facilities, the venue plays a role in the UK's theatre ecology.

Wiltshire Creative hosts a University of the Arts London Diploma in Performing and Production Arts, in partnership with Wiltshire College and University Centre.

In 2024/25 Salisbury Playhouse produced seven in-house productions, with two destined for international tours in 2026. Its production of Sleeping Beauty won 'Best Costume Design' at the UK Pantomime Association Awards and received two further nominations, including 'Best Pantomime'. Its youth theatre, Stage 65, celebrated 60 years last summer, making it one of the oldest youth theatres in the country.

Wiltshire Creative's history dates back to the 1970s when Salisbury Arts Centre, Salisbury International Arts Festival and Salisbury Playhouse were founded. The three Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisations (NPOs) joined forces as one NPO in 2018.

Wiltshire Creative is funded by Arts Council England, Salisbury City Council and Wiltshire Council.

www.wiltshirecreative.co.uk

Nominate your favorite local productions and performers before the deadline on October 31, 2026.

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_Originally reported by [BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwtv/article/BEAUTY-AND-THE-BEAST-Cast-Announced-for-Salisbury-Playhouse-20260921)._