Beauty and the Beast Pantomime Script Spotlight
A panto tale as old as time!
Our Beauty and the Beast pantomime script staffs the Beast’s castle with a bookcase called Billy, a clock called Cassio whose hands have been stuck at five twenty-three for years, a chest of drawers called Chester, and Trey, a dinner table with attitude. That supporting cast is why the central relationship can take its time without the show ever going quiet. Behind them stands Malignia, the witch whose rejected marriage proposal set everything in motion and who has an excellent line in long-term grudges, and Dame Dotty Doolally, mother to both Beauty and the magnificently confused Brian, whose grasp of language is enthusiastic if not always accurate.
Synopsis
When Prince Lucian flatly refuses to marry the wicked witch Malignia, she does something beastly about it, transforming him into a hideous beast who can only be released from the curse by finding true love. The Beast retreats to his castle with his enchanted furniture for company, and Malignia sets about making sure the curse is never broken.
Meanwhile Dame Dotty Doolally is trying to avoid King Duncan because the rent is overdue, Brian is getting things miscorrect as usual, and Beauty is about to make a decision that changes everything for everyone.
Straight from the Script
Jeeves introduces the castle’s residents:
Jeeves: ‘This is Billy, the bookcase.’
Billy: ‘Could I interest you in something to read? I’ve got bestsellers on my top shelf, novels in my navel and a book about DIY shelving down the bottom. I call it the shelf-help section!’
Casting Beauty and the Beast: Who this script suits
Seven principal characters and four supporting roles make this the tightest principal cast in the catalogue and one of our scripts for small casts, though it never feels small on stage. The four talking furniture roles give you strong named parts with real comic variety, and the Ensemble has good work across the town square, the castle and the ghost scenes. The Beast can be played by one actor throughout or split between two, which is a useful option when the casting is tight. A small principal cast and simple staging also make it one of the more manageable Easter pantomime scripts if your group is looking for titles that work outside the Christmas period.
A small principal cast does not mean a small company, and the Guards scene in Act One is where that shows. It is written to take as many performers as you can put in it, entering from every direction including the auditorium and speaking in unison, and because most of them only ever get their heads onstage you do not need to build a costume for each one. The more guards you have, the better it plays.
Splitting the Beast between two performers is worth thinking about early rather than late, since the Prince sings a duet with Beauty and the Beast has a number of his own with the furniture, and the two halves ask for different things. Dame Dotty and Malignia each have a solo as well, so four of the seven principals need to be able to sing. Staging asks very little in return. Seven scenes play on a full stage and six in front of the tabs, the castle covers three of the seven, and the only thing you genuinely have to build is Trey, whose head comes up through a small trapdoor in the table top.
If you want a cast this size but a title the poster sells on its own, our Jack and the Beanstalk is core repertoire at nine principals plus a two-person cow. Beauty and the Beast is the later arrival of the two, so it asks a little more of your marketing and a little less of your company.
Beauty and the Beast Reviews
‘A nice nippy pantomime script full of great jokes delivered uniformly well.’
Brookfield Players
‘Really rather entertaining. The script had us in stitches!’
St Mary’s Players
‘We set about reviving the group after Covid and initially found it hard to find a script with a small cast but yours was perfect for the number we had. Everyone really enjoyed it and the audiences got involved in the call-backs, the ghost scene and the songsheet at the end.’
St Martin’s Players
Request your free Perusal Script
Seven principals is the smallest cast we ask for anywhere, and the easiest way to test whether yours can carry it is to read the thing. Request a free Perusal Script to get the script, or visit the Beauty and the Beast script page for the character list and running time. Our home page and the All Scripts page cover the rest.