BEAUTY and the Beast is a classic fairytale full of adventure, fun, wonderful characters and drama.

The story tells of Belle as she leaves her family and ventures deep into the forest towards the magical castle. There she confronts the Beast, a grizzly and gruesome creature whose in hiding from the world.

Running at The Dukes until January 2, this new adaptation of Beauty and the Beast has been penned by Lancaster-based writer and father-of-two, Eddie Robson.

He has written episodes of Sarah and Duck for Cbeebies and Channel 4’s Hollyoaks, sketches for Mitchell and Webb, and ten episodes of Radio 4 Extra’s Doctor Who series. His other work includes a novel, non-fiction books on film and TV, and comic strips for Marvel Comics and 2000AD.

On stage, making her Christmas show debut at the Lancaster theatre, will be Natasha Davidson who plays Belle.

Gareth Cassidy is the Beast (he played Scrooge in The Dukes A Christmas Carol in 2013) and fresh from a highly successful summer season in rep at Theatre by the Lake is Polly Lister, who landed a UK Theatre Award for her performance in the Keswick theatre's production of Abigail’s Party.

Polly will be back at The Dukes in 2016, playing the lead in her self-penned one woman show I Was A Wife.

Promising a feelgood festive treat for all the family, Beauty and the Beast is the fourth Dukes Christmas production in The Round to be directed by Joe Sumsion, who was brought up in Kendal, and saw a version of the fairytale when he made his first ever theatre visit to The Dukes in 1973 at the tender age of five.

He said that Beauty is a fantastic, rich and moving story: "It's the best of all fairytales for my money. It’s about the idea of true beauty and how it could be that a young, beautiful woman would fall for a hideous beast. Presenting this story in The Round, with the audience in touching distance of the characters, will give it an extra frisson.”

A beastly tale beautifully told, the show is the highlight of The Dukes festive season, which also includes a Christmas Cabaret with Slightly Fat Features on December 10/11 and a selection of seasonal film screenings.

Meanwhile, for the first time at The Dukes, the theatre will put on a Relaxed Performance open to all but especially children with special needs and their families. The idea is to create a more relaxed atmosphere and there might be some changes to the Beauty production at certain points in the show, which will be staged on Saturday, November 28 at 2pm.

Box office 01524-598500 or visit www.dukes-lancaster.org.