Rapunzel Pantomime Script Spotlight
Hair today, gone tomorrow!
Our Rapunzel pantomime script puts the tower and the hair where you would expect them and then builds a whole town around them. Dame Betty Beehive runs the worst hair salon in all of Quiffendale alongside her son Silly Billy, whose record as a trainee hairdresser is catastrophic. Gothel’s son Sidney is a reluctant villain who gets on perfectly well with Rapunzel and would rather not be involved in any of this. And Rascal, Rapunzel’s pet rabbit, becomes a large talking rabbit partway through the second act, which the script handles as though it is the most reasonable thing in the world.
Synopsis
Rapunzel has been locked in a tower by the wicked Gothel since birth, kept prisoner so that Gothel can use the magical properties of her hair to maintain eternal youth. Down in the village, Dame Betty Beehive is running her salon into the ground with Silly Billy’s help, while the suave Bob the Barber has just arrived in Quiffendale with impeccable timing.
Prince Leo is determined to find Rapunzel, Gothel is determined to stop him, and Sidney is quietly doing what he can to help from the inside. With Drip and Dribble providing loyal if entirely useless henchman support, things in Quiffendale are about to get considerably more tangled.
This script will leave you in a real hair-raising state!
Straight from the Script
Rascal the rabbit discovers he can speak:
Rascal: ‘I always knew I had a lot to say!’
Sidney: ‘Alright, don’t rabbit on!’
Casting Rapunzel: Who this script suits
At 15 principal characters and four supporting roles, Rapunzel is one of our scripts for large casts and shares the biggest principal count we publish with Robin Hood and Snow White. There are strong parts at every level: two principal comedy roles in Dame Betty and Silly Billy, a proper villain in Gothel, a sympathetic comic in Sidney, and a talking rabbit for someone comfortable with physical comedy and witty one-liners. The Ensemble has good work across the salon, the tower and the ghost scenes, the hair salon setting gives your design team something to enjoy, and the Bob the Barber subplot hands the Dame a comic foil for the whole show. As a relatively recent addition to the panto repertoire it also sits among our unusual pantomime scripts, so audiences arrive without fixed expectations.
Look closely at the four supporting roles before you plan around them, because they are lighter than anything else we publish. Sat Nav is an enchanted compass and a voice from offstage, Mildred and Gertie appear as the Prince’s rejected suitors without speaking, one bearded and one singing very badly indeed, and Granny Mavis is the only one of the four written as a conventional speaking part. Everything else this show asks for is in the principal cast, so 15 is a real number rather than a headline with a long tail behind it.
The salon scene is the one to plan properly. Dame Betty and Silly Billy ruin a row of customers’ haircuts and Bob the Barber puts each of them right on stage, which means awful wigs and a bald cap that come off fast, and enough Ensemble around the chair to mask the change while it happens. Dame Betty does the same trick again in the final scene, so build it once and use it twice.
Build the tower well, because you are in it four times. It takes four of the seven full-stage scenes, with the village square, the salon and the royal celebration taking the other three and seven front-cloth scenes falling between them, so the changes cover themselves throughout. Rapunzel sings more than most principal girls, with a solo, a duet and the Act Two opener, and Prince Leo has a number of his own with the Ensemble, so neither of them can be cast on looks and a good speaking voice alone.
If a design-led title appeals but 15 principals is beyond you, our The Little Mermaid asks for 12 and gives you five supporting roles that are all proper parts, including Ariel’s four sisters. It is the same kind of show to look at and a different kind of cast list to fill.
Rapunzel Reviews
‘Rapunzel is a special reimagining of the classic Brothers Grimm tale which joyfully embraces pantomime tradition... with outlandish comedy, topical references, and plenty of audience participation!’
Association of Community Theatre
‘The script was so easy to work with. The structure was perfect, each scene well-paced with great comedy timing!’
Kettering Youth Theatre Group
‘We have really enjoyed Rapunzel and loved all the hair references. We especially liked the Hair Salon scene, which is so different from the usual cooking or school scenes.’
Act Two Theatre Company
Request your free Perusal Script
If you’d like to read our Rapunzel script in full before you decide, request a free Perusal Script and we’ll send it over, or visit the Rapunzel script page for the character list and running time. Our home page and the All Scripts page have everything else.