Full Cast Announced For Rose Theatre Kingston's Christmas Show HANSEL & GRETEL

Rose Theatre Kingston today announces the full cast for Hansel & Gretel, a new festive version with original music. Director of Learning and Participation, Ciaran McConville, returns with a new version of the Brothers' Grimm classic following last year's successful adaptation of Alice in Winterland. Rosie Jones directs a cast of local young actors from the Rose Youth Theatre led by a team of professional actors including Devon Black (Mother/Bear/Townsperson), Vanessa Fisher (Red/Townsperson), Elliot Fitzpatrick (Otto/Kabeljau), J.J. Henry (Gerhardt/Blue) and Georgina White (Circe). The production opens on Friday 14 December, with previews from Thursday 6 December, and runs until Sunday 6 January 2019.

Life is good in the little town of Freiburg. Somehow it has escaped the Great Famine laying blight to its neighbours. It has the highest of walls, the most bountiful of harvests and holds the biggest of parties. And everyone loves the town's mayor.

When young Hansel and Gretel are caught passing food to the poor, they are as surprised as anyone to be rewarded with a trip to the far side of the forest. Little do they know of the gingerbread house that awaits them and the sweet old lady who controls their fate.

Battling magical beasts, enlisting a crew of fairy tale bandits and learning the secrets of their past, Hansel and Gretel must race to save their town from the Witch's Curse. And all in time for Christmas.

Ciaran McConville is Director of Learning and Participation at Rose Theatre Kingston. Writing credits for the company include Alice in Winterland, The Wind in the Willows, A Christmas Carol, Our Town: A Kingston Story, In the Way of Peace, Scenes from Childhood and Stay With Me. Other credits include Beast Quest (Hampton Court Palace), The Enchanted Story Trail (RHS Garden Wisley), Stones (Sutton Theatres), Snowbound (Trafalgar Studios), My Father the Angel (NT Studio), These Four Walls, Shostakovich The Last Symphony, Touched by Fire, The Man Who Dreamed (Edinburgh Festival Fringe), MiracleBoy (Bad Physics), Crooked Little House (Battersea Arts Centre), Immortal (Courtyard Theatre) and The Settling Dust (Union Theatre). Adaptations include Heart of Darkness, The Jungle Book, Treasure Island, Nineteen Eighty-Four, The Trial, Arabian Nights, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Oliver Twist, Frankenstein and the hit show Horrible Histories Ruthless Romans, which toured internationally. He is also a founding director of Debut Theatre Company.

Devon Black plays Mother/Bear/Townsperson. Her theatre credits include The Tiger Who Came to Tea (Piccadilly Theatre/UK tour), Alice in Wonderland, A Christmas Carol, Stepping Out (The New Vic), A Midsummer Night's Dream (The Cockpit/US tour), Cider with Rosie, Merchant of Venice (Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds), As You Like It, Comedy of Errors and Much Ado About Nothing (UK tour); and for television, Final Demand.

Vanessa Fisher plays Red/Townsperson. Her theatre credits include Motown the Musical (Shaftesbury Theatre), An Officer and a Gentleman, Little Shop of Horrors and Hairspray (UK tour).

Elliot Fitzpatrick plays Otto/Kabeljau. His theatre credits include Mary Rose, The Ruling Class, High Society (Pitlochry Festival Theatre), Horrible Histories: Incredible Invaders, Horrible Histories: Groovy Greeks (UK tour), Seussical the Musical (Arts Theatre/international tour), That Is All You Need To Know (UK tour/international tour), The Mummy (Belgrade Theatre), NewsRevue (Canal Café Theatre), Two Gentlemen of Verona and Two Noble Kinsmen (Jack Studio Theatre).

J.J. Henry plays Gerhardt/Blue. His theatre credits include Robin Hood (The Roses Theatre), Mother Courage and her Children (Blackeyed Theatre), Halfway to the Sun (OSO Community Arts Centre), Private Lives, Pinocchio (UK tour) and Alice in Wonderland (Spike Theatre); and for television, Going Nowhere.

Georgina White plays Circe. Her theatre credits include The Sword in the Stone (New Wolsey Theatre), Little Shop of Horrors, Somewhere in England (Theatr Clwyd), As You Like It, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelfth Night (Stafford Gatehouse Theatre), Blonde Bombshells of 1943 (Oldham Coliseum Theatre/New Vic Theatre), The Wind in The Willows (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Forever Young (Nottingham Playhouse/New Wolsey Theatre), Way Upstream (Salisbury Playhouse), The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (Royal & Derngate Northampton), Our Day Out (Royal Court Liverpool), Up On The Roof (Oldham Coliseum Theatre/New Wolsey Theatre/Haymarket Theatre Basingstoke); and for film, That Good Night.

Rosie Jones returns to Rose Theatre Kingston to direct, having previously been Associate Director on The Wind in the Willows, A Christmas Carol and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Other credits include The Box, Into the Minds of Muybridge (V&A Museum), My Kingdom is a Horse! (UK tour), Much Ado About Nothing (RHS Garden Wisley), In the Pursuit of Appi-ness and Christmas at Mildred's (RADA Festival).

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