Beauty and the Beast, KD Theatre Productions
Reviewed 7th December 2025
5/5
This Beauty is one Beast of a panto!
Beauty and the Beast at the Atkinson in Southport really is a beast of a panto. The amount of energy shown on stage was simply spellbinding. The story of how the prince became the beast was really well handled and set things up for a fantastic show.
Written by Daniel Bell, we had some nice twists in the regular story, including Morgiana, Queen of the wolves, played with relish by Coral Mourant. Keeping this character going throughout the show meant there were plenty of chances to boo, and provided a nice contract to Fairy Cupid.
Belle’s suitor, in this case ‘Gastrong’, had a nice mix of arrogance and whimpishness, with Sam Robinson displaying a voice as pumped as his muscles which the ladies seemed to enjoy in the ‘lie detector’ scene.
Instead of Belles Father which can be a bit of non-plus character, we had her brother, Billy. This gave scope for some hilarious goings on, with Gregor Duncan making the most of the jokes, especially in his scenes with Terry Burns who played his mother, Betty Bon Bon.
There really wasn’t a weak link, and the whole company kept the full house laughing from start to finish, although those in the first few rows probably wished they had kept their coats on for one spectacular scene.
Beauty and the Beast runs at The Atkinson until 31 December 2025