NEWS: Cast and creatives announced for charming Christmas quacker!

Two Nottinghamshire actors bring this delightful tale to the stage. The Ugly Duckling will be played by Ethan Cooper (The Boy Who Cried Wolf, Tutti Frutti; Alice in Wonderland, Scarlett Entertainment), and Maya Thompson (Hansel & Gretel, Nottingham Playhouse; Anna Hibiscus’ Song, Sheffield Theatre and Utopia Theatre) returns this year playing a multitude of friendly farm creatures. Ethan is a recent drama school graduate and is making his Nottingham Playhouse debut.

 This brand-new version of the classic fairytale is written by Isabella Waldron (how to build a wax figure, Jawbone and Things I Never Told the Stars) and directed by Laura Ryder (Assistant Director Welfare, Derby Theatre; Director The Garden in my Living Room, B Team Theatre), with Composer and Musical Director Ben Glasstone (The King of Nothing, Little Angel Theatre; The Rhythmics, Southwark Playhouse) creating original music for this enchanting tale.

Specially created for children aged 3 to 8, this brand-new version of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale is the perfect introduction to live theatre for little ones. Full of music and plenty of opportunities to join in, this 50-minute-long show is a great festive family treat. The show also incorporates Creative Captioning, which uses simple imagery on a screen to highlight key points in the story, making it more accessible to children who are hard of hearing or have issues with auditory processing. There are also fully captioned and BSL interpreted performances for access.

The Designer for the show is Nottinghamshire-born Alexandrea Hopkin-Spratt, a Nottingham Trent University graduate (BA Hons Design for Theatre and Live Performance) who was announced as the winner of the Playhouse Prize earlier this year. The prize gives a recent graduate their first professional job after training, which is producing the costume and set designs for the Christmas show for younger children in the Neville Studio.

Alexandrea commented:

“I feel incredibly excited to be working alongside Nottingham Playhouse and director Laura Ryder on The Ugly Duckling. As I wrote my degree dissertation about the declining creative opportunities to schools and the need to revitalise this aspect of the industry to provide equal access to the arts, I am delighted to know that many schools in Nottingham and surrounding areas will have access to the performance this winter.”

The creative team were appointed following an open call-out to artists for the roles of Director, Writer and Composer. The call-out was part of Nottingham Playhouse’s Amplify programme, which supports local creatives with opportunities, workshops networking and mentoring.

The open call-out and the Playhouse Prize are both part of Nottingham Playhouse’s policy of being open and equitable in engaging artists and ensuring that they are offered real opportunities to work in their own community.

Laura Ryder, Director, said:

“I’m really excited to get started with rehearsals for The Ugly Duckling and for audiences to see it at Christmas. Isabella has written a show which is so funny and also so full of heart. Ben has composed some amazing songs, they’re fun and are already stuck in my head, which is brilliant. Audiences can expect the classic story we all know and love, with some surprising twists and characters we’ll meet along the way, as our Ugly Duckling discovers how being different is actually pretty great.”

Adam Penford, Artistic Director at Nottingham Playhouse, said:

“Nottingham Playhouse has been making work for children and touring schools for decades. It’s a crucial part of what we do – never more so as arts in education has been declining – and is often children’s first experience of watching live theatre. We have a great team of local theatre makers reimagining a brand-new version of the classic fairytale, emphasising that beauty is about learning to love yourself.”

The Ugly Duckling will tour to schools and community venues in January 2025.

Meet the newest duckling on the pond. To everyone’s surprise, they’re nothing like the rest of the family.

As the seasons change, the duckling heads out on a mission to find some new friends. Along the way they encounter some crafty creatures and have exciting adventures before discovering that the best thing to be, is yourself.