THE TAILOR OF GLOUCESTER Musical to Open at Farnham Maltings
Double Olivier Award-winner Darren Clark composed the score for this festive theatrical adventure celebrating Potter's 160th anniversary.
This Christmas, Beatrix Potter's The Tailor of Gloucester is being remixed and restitched for a new generation as Farnham Maltings presents their new musical adaptation. Packed with live rock and pop music, puppetry, humour and festive surprises, performances will run Friday 11th – Thursday 24th December 2026.
Inspired by Potter's original tale and marking the 160th anniversary of her birth, the production is adapted by Alex Kanefsky (Cable Street; Southwark Playhouse) with an electrifying original score and lyrics by double Olivier Award-winner Darren Clark (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button).
It's Christmas Eve, the one night of the year when animals can speak. In a town being drained of colour, a struggling tailor and a family of sharp, ambitious mice finally find themselves on the brink of success. Fame and fortune await – but at what cost for their friends and neighbours?
Taking the familiar world of Potter's industrious mice and transforming it for today, this irreverent new adaptation introduces fashion, branding and social media alongside a live soundtrack of rock and pop. An amazing cast of four combine music, puppetry and theatrical storytelling to spin the classic tale into a colourful new Christmas adventure.
At its heart remains a story about courage, community and the power of doing good, even when no one is watching. Designed for generations to enjoy together, The Tailor of Gloucester offers families something a little different this Christmas: a festive show bursting with energy, colour, jokes and mischief.
Katy Potter, Executive Producer, comments, We've been interested in developing this story into a theatre adventure for a while, and the 160th anniversary of Beatrix Potter's birth felt like the perfect time to bring it to the stage. We've taken the familiar world of the tailor and his sewing mice and given it a contemporary twist, bringing fashion, branding and social media into their world and using live rock and pop music to tell the story. As a home for both craft and theatre, Farnham Maltings felt like the right place to create this new adaptation, which celebrates both. At its heart, we've kept the story's message about doing something kind for others without expecting plaudits or reward, which feels as relevant today as ever.
Farnham Maltings has built a reputation for creating distinctive and original festive theatre for family audiences, with previous Christmas productions including The Christmas Lobster and Christmas in Exeter Street. This new production continues that tradition with a Christmas show that swaps conventional panto for an imaginative theatrical adventure with a creative voice all its own.
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