BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Panto to Open at Liverpool Everyman

2026 at the Liverpool Everyman will present a brand-new Rock 'n' Roll Panto, Beauty & the Beast, written by Joe Ward Munrow and directed by Nathan Powell.  The cast are Bethan Aitken, Henry Brennan, Amy Bastani, Adryne Caulder-James, Damien James, Sorrel Jordan, Adam Keast, Izzy Neish, Adam Scott Pringle, Liam Tobin and Zoe West. Beauty & the Beast will open on 14 November and run until 6 January 2027.

Joe Ward Munrow is an award-winning playwright who has been based in Liverpool for over twenty years. In 2022, Joe founded the theatre company New Step with Nathan Powell. He is a lecturer in Scriptwriting at Manchester Metropolitan University. In 2025, he was the inaugural winner of the Robert Holman Award. Joe's credits for the Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse include: The Legend of Ned Ludd (Everyman); Dogs and Held (Playhouse). Other credits include: Screaming Heart (winner of the Mercury Weinberger playwriting award); Blue (The Gate, London/Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama); The Busker (BBC Radio 4); Hercules and Phoebe (National Theatre 'Let's Play' tour) and The Laundry (Brockley Jack Studio Theatre). 

Director Nathan Powell is the Creative Director for the Everyman and Playhouse Theatres. Previously Artistic Director of the National Student Drama Festival (NSDF), Powell has championed emerging talent and forged groundbreaking partnerships, showcasing some of the most exciting new work from across the country. He was the Creative Producer and Associate Artist for 20 Stories High (an Associate Company of the Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse theatres) and is co-founder of New Step Theatre with writer Joe Ward Munrow.  Their production of DOGS sold out the Playhouse Studio in 2022.

As writer and adapter, Nathan's credits include Pleasant Land and Homegirl (Derby Theatre).  As a director, his recent credits include Sucker Punch (Queens Theatre Hornchurch in association with The National Theatre) and A Play for the Living in the Time of Extinction (Headlong and The Barbican in association with Shakespeare North), The Mountaintop for Leicester Curve and on a national tour, and Alice in Wonderland for Shakespeare North.  He wrote the Everyman's hit production Takeaway in 2025.

The cast features Bethan Aitken, Henry Brennan, Amy Bastani, Adryne Caulder-James, Damien James, Sorrel Jordan,  Adam Keast,  Izzy Neish, Adam Scott Pringle, Liam Tobin and Zoe West.