Beauty and the Beast Jr for Harpenden Young Hearts Youth Theatre

They will be performing as part of the town’s Christmas Carnival prior to the show at Harpenden Public Halls on Tuesday, December 4.

It promises to bring all the colour of the original Disney musical of the same name. Beauty and The Beast centres on a prince who is transformed into a Beast and a young woman named Belle whom he imprisons in his castle. To become a prince again, the Beast must love Belle and win her love in return, or he will remain a Beast forever.

The part of Belle is being played by St George’s School student Eleanor Cripps. She commented: “I’m so happy to be playing this part because I feel that I can empathise with Belle most of the way through; we share the same inability to be beaten! We also have quite a lot in common as I am just as obsessed as she is with books.”

Professional actor John Stenhouse founded Harpenden Young Hearts in 2006 in a bid to bring fun, performance-based classes to children and young adults. The youth theatre is based at the Harpenden Public Halls where it meets every Tuesday and Wednesday during school term-time.

John commented: “Beauty and The Beast is a perfect choice for us as it brings great songs, characters and lots of opportunity for a large cast to get involved. Everyone is excited about the show and appearing at the Christmas Carnival.”

Tickets for Beauty and the Beast, which starts at 7.30pm, are available at www.harpendenpublichalls.co.uk or 01582 767525.