Tony and Olivier winner Ian McKellen will star in the title role of a U.K. and Ireland tour of the pantomime Mother Goose, launching December 3-11 at the Theatre Royal Brighton.
Written by Jonathan Harvey (Coronation Street, Gimme Gimme Gimme) and directed by Cal McCrystal, the company will also feature John Bishop as Vic Goose and Mel Giedroyc as the Goose with Oscar Conlon-Morrey as Jack, Simbi Akande as Jill, Sharon Ballard as Evil Fairy Malignia, and Karen Mavundukure as Good Fairy Encanta plus Adam Brown, Gabriel Fleary, Richard Leeming, and Genevieve Nicole.
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The tour will subsequently play the Duke of York’s Theatre in London’s West End (December 15-January 29, 2023), Chichester Festival Theatre (February 7-11), Sheffield Lyceum (February 14-18), Wolverhampton Grand (February 22-26), Liverpool Empire (February 28-March 4), Oxford New Theatre (March 7-11), Bord Gais Energy Theatre Dublin (March 22-26), and Wales Millennium Centre Cardiff (March 28-April 1) with further venues and casting to be announced.
The production will have set and costume design by Liz Ascroft, choreography by Lizzi Gee, lighting design by Prema Mehta, sound design by Ben Harrison, and puppet design and creation by Chris Barlow. Casting is by Anne Vosser, and the production manager is Ben Arkell.
In the pantomime, Mother Goose (McKellen) and her husband Vic (Bishop) run an animal sanctuary for waifs and strays and live a wholesome life inside an abandoned Debenhams. But when a goose (Giedroyc) flies in, will fame and fortune get the better of them?
Mother Goose is produced by Ambassador Theatre Group Productions, Gavin Kalin Productions, Hunter Arnold, Seaview, Wessex Grove, Richard Winkler and Dawn Smalberg, Caiola Productions, and George Waud for Groove International.
Visit MotherGooseShow.co.uk.
