Craig Anderson and Yana Penrose will play the title characters in Derby Theatre’s 2018 festive production Hansel and Gretel.
A band of actor-musicians will perform Mike Kenney’s adaptation of the fairy tale that originated in Germany.
Penrose has appeared at Derby Theatre before, playing Kathleen in Neil Duffield’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol in 2014.
Another recognisable face is Chris Price who plays the witch. He was in Cinderella in 2015 and was Cyclops in Mike Kenny’s version of Homer’s The Odyssey in 2014.
Esme Sears, who played Tinkerbell in Mike Penny’s adaptation of Peter Pan in 2017, returns to the theatre along with Jack Wharton whose last Derby appearance was in Neil Bartlett’s adaptation of Dickens’s Great Expectations in 2017 and Liz Eaves who was in both Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland in 2016.
New to Derby audiences are Jack Alexander and Tilly-Mae Millbrook. Joining the adult cast will be 18 young actors: Ariana Botchway, George Thompson, Rosie Austins, Millie Denney, Jaiya Dhillon, Harry Tallis, Leo Fox-White, Lottie Stone, Madison Naylor, Scarlett Allitt, William Brown, Amelie Turner, Maisie Gore, Freddie Phillips, Thomas Moore, Roxy Wright, Primrose Cole and Freya Youngman.
Derby Theatre’s artistic director Sarah Brigham directs. Neil Irish is set designer, composer is Ivan Stott, Tim Haywood is costume designer and lighting designer is Emma Jones.
Hansel and Gretel runs from Friday 30 November until Saturday 5 January 2019.
In the Studio, Hiccup Theatre will present Goldilocks and the Three Bears, “just right” for children aged three and above and their families.
The cast includes Katie Tranter, Karen Young and Ivan Stott. It will run from Tuesday 4 December until Saturday 5 January 2019.