Beauty and the Beast, Lyceum

Photo: Eamonn McGoldrick

A merchant who has fallen on hard times stumbles upon a castle and angers the beast who lives within. Read more …

He is duty-bound to return or send another in his place and, though she’s scared, brave Beauty vows to honour her father’s word and face the terrible monster.

As the pair gradually overcome their differences and become friends, the malevolent witch Crackjaw plots and schemes to defeat all that is good and pure.

Can Beauty and the Beast stop her evil plan, and prove that love really does conquer all?

The critical consensus

Drenched in enchantment and playfulness, yet failing to truly take us into that spellbinding world.

(*) (*) Andrew, TV Bomb, 04/12/2011

The everyday magic works in the end, with our help. Just as well really; the drab set has little magic of its own.

(*) (*) Mary Brennan, The Herald, 05/12/2011

Lyceum Christmas plays have been honed over many years to create a top-notch formula, a blend between play and panto. It works every time, and punters are unlikely to come away disappointed.

(*) (*) James T Harding, The Scotsman, 06/12/2011

Fails to deliver.

(*) (*) (*) Mark Brown, The Telegraph, 06/12/2011

Beauty and the Beast rightly distances itself by self-describing as a ‘children’s play’, but it needs a double shot of the manic energy that was historically the lifeblood of panto.

(*) (*) Alex Johnston, The List, 06/12/2011

While the company happily gee their audience up, they have no mechanism for control - which leaves them horribly exposed as the story of Beauty’s growing love for Beast reaches its delicate climax.

Thom Dibdin, The Stage, 08/12/2011

Even if the tone needs a sharp injection of energy, the narrative architecture of this show is strong enough to keep audiences thoroughly absorbed and enthralled; and with the addition of a little more sparkle, rudeness and pace, this quiet Beauty And The Best could evolve into one of the richest Christmas treats of the season.

(*) (*) Joyce McMillan, 08/12/2011

Writer Stuart Paterson has shoehorned pantomime characters into the story, but director Murray hasn’t made them very ‘pantomimey’. By the play’s rather low-key conclusion, though, it’s the joyful story that has really shone through, and the audience stays enthralled throughout.

(*) (*) David Kettle, The Edinburgh Reporter, 13/12/2011

You can go and be treated to a big-hearted and spellbinding piece of charming theatre which will appeal to the child within, no matter how old you are.

(*) Edinburgh Spotlight, 16/12/2011