Cast and Creative Team Set For SLEEPING BEAUTY Panto at Salisbury Playhouse

Cast and creatives have been announced for this year’s festive pantomime Sleeping Beauty at Salisbury Playhouse. Writers Plested, Brown & Wilsher are returning to Salisbury for a third year following the success of last year’s Dick Whittington, which was nominated for Best Pantomime at the 2024 UK Pantomime Association Awards. 

Ryan McBryde returns to Salisbury Playhouse to direct Claudia Kariuki (Fairy Frappucino), Lottie Mae O’Kill (Princess Stella), Neal Craig(King Arthur Rightus), Scotty Armstrong (Dame Nanny Fanny Adams), Natasha O’Brien (Fairy Badflix), and Joseph Peacock (Mike the Magnificent).

The creative team is completed by Designer Katie Lias, Lighting Designer Nic Farman, Sound Designer Michael Scott, Choreographer Khiley Willams, Musical Supervisor & Orchestrator Paul Herbert and Casting Director Natalie Gallacher.

Sleeping Beauty opens on 4 December, with previews from 30 November, and runs until 12 January 2025.

Come to Salisbury Playhouse this Christmas for a magical family Pantomime extravaganza! With dazzling dances, laugh-out-loud hilarity and sparkling songs from our live band, it promises pure festive joy for the entire family!

Embark on an unforgettable adventure as Princess Stella falls under the wicked curse of evil Fairy Badflix, doomed to sleep for a hundred years. Can her loyal friends and family break the spell? Will the forces of good triumph over evil? And is there a charming prince in Salisburyshire ready to save the day?

Claudia Kariuki plays Fairy Frappucino. Her theatre credits include Sister Act (Dominion Theatre), SIX The Musical (Vaudeville Theatre), Priscilla Queen of the Desert (UK tour), School of Rock (Gillian Lynne Theatre), Wicked (Apollo Victoria Theatre), Ragtime and Porgy and Bess (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre).

Lottie Mae O’Kill plays Princess Stella. Her theatre credits include Zog (UK tour), Peter Pan (Loughborough Town Hall) and Bring it On (Southwark Playhouse).

Neal Craig plays King Arthur Rightus. His theatre credits include MAMMA MIA! (UK and international tour), Jekyll & Hyde (Derby Theatre, Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch), First Touch (Nottingham Playhouse), Peter Pan (Storyhouse Theatre), and Dear John: The Kin Selection Controversy (The British Library); and for television, The Devil’s Advocate, The Girls Guide to Depravity, Raving Arizona and Odd One In.

Scotty Armstrong plays Dame Nanny Fanny Adams. His theatre credits include Shrek – The Musical, Motown - The Musical (UK and Ireland tours), The Mould that Changed the World (Charades Theatre), Beauty and the Beast (Nottingham Playhouse), The Producers (international tour), and White Christmas, Miracle on 34th Street, Perfect Days, Whisky Kisses, and The Admirable Crichton (Pitlochry Festival Theatre).

Natasha O’Brien plays Fairy Badflix. Her theatre credits include Starter for Ten: A New Musical (Bristol Old Vic), Aspects of Love (Lyric Theatre), MAMMA MIA! (international tour, Novello Theatre), Falsettos (The Other Palace) and Children of Eden (Union Theatre).

Joseph Peacock plays Mike the Magnificent. His theatre credits include Becoming Nancy (Birmingham Rep), Titanic The Musical (UK and Ireland tour) and The Osmonds: A New Musical (UK tour).

Brandon Thompson plays Male Swing. This marks his professional stage debut, having recently graduated from Emil Dale Academy.

Bella Donald plays Female Swing. This marks her professional stage debut, having recently graduated from Performers College.

Clare Plested, Adam Brown and Amanda Wilsher are a comedy writing team with over 20 years' experience writing, directing and performing comedy theatre. Theatre credits include Dick Whittington, Cinderella (Salisbury Playhouse), and Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella, Aladdin and Sleeping Beauty (Corn Exchange Newbury). Supported by The Arts Council, the company had six acclaimed runs at the Edinburgh Festival, ten nationwide tours and toured internationally.

Ryan McBryde is an award-winning theatre director. He is formerly the Creative Director for the Mercury Theatre, Colchester (2019 - 2024), where his productions include Midsummer, The Importance of Being Earnest, Great Expectations, They Don’t Pay? We Won’t Pay!, The Comedy of Errors, Baskerville, Sleeping Beauty, Aladdin, Oliver - the Musical, Moll Flanders, and Pieces Of String. Other directing credits include Romeo And Juliet (Theatre Trier), Faust, 1984 (Alte Schauspielhaus), Love On The Links, Before The Party, Beauty And The Beast, Cinderella, Aladdin, Jack and The Beanstalk (Salisbury Playhouse), The Invisible Man (Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch), Saturday Night Fever (UK tour), Angus, Thongs And Even More Snogging (West Yorkshire Playhouse), The Who’s Tommy (European tour) and Hamlet! The Musical (Royal and Derngate, Richmond Theatre).