Wiltshire Creative has today announced the full cast of this year’s pantomime Beauty and the Beast, written by Plested, Brown and Wilsher. Director Abigail Pickard Price makes her Salisbury Playhouse debut, working with the same creative team who served up a spectacle for Wiltshire Creative's 2025/26 pantomime Jack and the Beanstalk. She'll be directing a sparkling cast:

Saffi Needham (Disney’s Hercules and Oliver!, Theatre Royal Drury Lane; BBC One’s Big Night of Musicals) stars as the play's fearless heroine, Belle.

Tommy Fouweather (Half a Sixpence, Frinton Summer Theatre; The Wizard of Oz, Royal Caribbean Entertainment; Rat Pack UK and international tour) stars as the cursed Beast.

Britain’s Got Talent semi-finalist and viral parodist Nerine Skinner (Roald Dahl and The Imagination Seekers UK tour; Faulty Towers, P&O Cruises) returns to Salisbury after popular performances in previous pantomimes – including Wiltshire Creative’s 2018 Beauty and the Beast. This time she’ll appear as the Beast's sidekick Ratty, one half of a double act alongside Luke Barton's Batty. Luke was last seen on the Salisbury Playhouse stage in Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense.

Dan Smith (Little Robin Redbreast and Worst Wedding Ever, Salisbury Playhouse) also makes a welcome return as loveable Dame Pansy Pocock, after his acclaimed performance as Dame Caroline Trotter in Jack and the Beanstalk.

Leigh Quinn (Little Shop of Horrors, Exeter Northcott Theatre; The Government Inspector, Chichester Festival Theatre; various roles with the RSC) stars as the good Fairy Bumpkin, with Joel Benedict (Blood Brothers UK tour; As You Like It UK tour) as the bad Fairy Tight Trousers.

The cast are supported by Joe Harris (Male Swing) and Phoenix Renee (Female Swing) and a company of young performers.

Designer Katie Lias won the UK Pantomime Award for Best Costume Design 2025 for Wiltshire Creative's Sleeping Beauty and was nominated for Best Costume Design 2026 for Jack and The Beanstalk. She has additionally been nominated for three Broadway World Awards for Best Set Design.

Katie will be working with Lighting Designer Nic Farman, Wiltshire Creative’s very own Sound Designer Michael Scott, Choreographer Julia Cave, and Musical Director/Supervisor Daniel Looseley.

Gareth Machin, Artistic Director of Wiltshire Creative said, “What a pleasure to welcome back some brilliant familiar faces to the Playhouse stage alongside new talent coming to Salisbury for the first time. It promises to be a fantastic festive season.”

Beauty and the Beast is set to open at Salisbury Playhouse on 2 December, with previews from 28 November, and will conclude on 10 January 2027.

Beauty and the Beast is proudly sponsored by Trethowans.

Training: Guildford School of Acting and Performance Preparation Academy

Theatre: Despina in Disney’s Hercules (Theatre Royal Drury Lane), cvr Adelaide in Guys & Dolls (Bridge Theatre), Oliver! (Theatre Royal Drury Lane), Verity! (Edinburgh Fringe), Aladdin (Harlequin Theatre), No Limits (Turbine Theatre)

Television: The Olivier Awards (ITV), Big Night of the Musicals (BBC)

Training: Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance

Theatre: Sid Pornick in Half a Sixpence (Frinton Summer Theatre); Squip in Be More Chill (The Old Joint Stock Theatre); Winkie General/Cover The Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz (Royal Caribbean Entertainment); Featured Ensemble, Understudy Connor/Captain Viz in The Effectors (Royal Caribbean Entertainment)

Concerts: Vocalist in Herbalife Extravaganza (Tauron Arena Krakow); Frank Sinatra in Rat Pack (UK and International Tour); Tommy Devito in Walk Like A Man (UK Tour); Ensemble in I Am Harvey Milk (Cadogan Hall); 1st Cowboy in Annie Get Your Gun (London Palladium); Backing Vocalist in Stiles and Drewe Best New Song Prize (The Other Palace); Soloist in Unheard (Arts Theatre); Featured role/Ensemble in Camelot (London Palladium)

Training: Arts Educational Schools London

Nerine’s a Britain’s Got Talent semi-finalist with The Dots Comedy Cabaret Trio and became a viral parodist with her sketches of Liz Truss.

Acting highlights: Roald Dahl and The Imagination Seekers tour, Faulty Towers, P&O Cruises; TV comedy appearances and pantomimes, including Aladdin at Salisbury Playhouse, Cinderella at the Mercury Theatre and Beauty and the Beast at BEAM, Hertford.

In 2024, she debuted her show, Nerine Skinner: The Exorcism of Liz Truss, at Edinburgh Fringe, receiving 5-star reviews and a sold-out run. She was featured on Sky TV, BBC Radio 2, 4 and 5 Live, STV, Laura Kuenssberg’s BBC Newscast and Richard Herring’s RHLSTP podcast.

In 2026, she reached the semi-finals of the Funny Women Stage Award, won Judges’ Favourite at Dabbers Bingo and took her new show, Decisions, Decisions to Edinburgh. She continues to create online comedy characters, including Donald and Melania Trump and is writing a TV pilot.

Training: Oxford School of Drama

For Wiltshire Creative: Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense

Other theatre: David Copperfield, Pride and Prejudice (Guildford Shakespeare Company, Jermyn St Theatre and 59e59 Theatres, NYC), Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense (Salisbury Playhouse/Bolton Octagon); The Valley of Fear and The Sign of Four (Blackeyed Theatre, UK Tours); The Hound of the Baskervilles (The Lost Estate); One Man, Two Guvnors (New Wolsey, Ipswich and Nuffield, Southampton); Busman’s Honeymoon, The Unexpected Guest and Spider’s Web (Mill at Sonning); Romeo & Juliet, Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Henry V (Merely Theatre, UK Tours); That Is All You Need to Know (Idle Motion, UK Tour); Misterman (Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse); After Three Sisters (Living Record Productions/Brockley Jack).

Television:Doctors (BBC).

Training: Royal Central School of Speech and Drama

For Wiltshire Creative: Dame Caroline Trotter in Jack and the Beanstalk, Daddy in Little Robin Redbreast, Mr Hinks/Mr Scrutton in Moonfleet, Brian in Worst Wedding Ever

Other theatre: Julian, the Fabulist in The Fabulist (Charing Cross Theatre); the Tramp in Salad Days (UK tour); Tommy in Carnaby Street the Musical (Hackney Empire and UK tour); Rupert Cadell in Rope, Harold Palmer in Communicating Doors, Customer / u/s Audrey II in Little Shop of Horrors, Lt Rooney in Arsenic and Old Lace (Pitlochry Festival Theatre); multiple dames and villains in pantomimes up and down the country.

Dan is a member of The Magic Circle, and performs as Debra Kadabra.

Training: Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Mountview

Theatre includes:Little Shop of Horrors (Exeter Northcott Theatre); The Government Inspector (Chichester Festival Theatre); Boundless as the Sea and Miss Littlewood (Both RSC/Cunard); Womens Writes (Arcola); Scrounger (Finborough); A Little Night Music and The Crucible (Storyhouse Theatre, Chester); Pride and Prejudice (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre); Henry IV; Henry V and Richard II (RSC, Barbican/China/BAM Theatre, NY); The Famous Victories of Henry V; Troilus and Cressida; Two Gentlemen of Verona and Henry IV Parts 1 & 2 (RSC); The Low Road (The Royal Court); The Marvellous Imaginary Menagerie (Les Enfants Terribles)

Film includes: Sisters In Arms (BBC); The Education of Jane Cumming (Heimatfilm); Love at First Sight (Netflix); The Best of Men (Amazon Prime) and Eight Minutes Idle.

Television includes:Shakespeare Live!; People of Paisley; Year of the Rabbit; Case Histories; Hedz

Voiceover includes: The Tate Movie Project (Aardman)

Radio includes:All the Milkman’s Children (BBC)

Training: Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow and LIPA in Liverpool

Acting credits include: Phoebe/Charles/Amiens/Le Beau in As You Like It UK tour (The HandleBards); musician and vocalist in Fairytale for Christmas (Se7ven Productions); I Wish My Life Were Like a Musical (Seabright Productions); musician and vocalist in Fairytale of New York UK, inc West End and US (Se7ven Productions); Guitarist in Mayflies (York Theatre Royal); Eddie Lyons in Blood Brothers UK Tour (Bill Kenwright Ltd); swing in Spamalot UK tour (Selladoor); and Paper Hearts Upstairs at The Gatehouse, Hamburg & Edinburgh Fringe 2016 (Moon Rock Productions).

Joel is a professional musician playing guitar, bouzouki, mandolin, lute, and other strummed and plucked things.

Joel is also an audiobook narrator and has recorded several titles for Audible, most notably The Final Dawn series by T.W.M. Ashford.

Training: Guildford School of Acting.

Credits whilst training include: Harold the Hermit in Young Frankenstein, Henry Longstreet in High Button Shoes, Ensemble (Cat/Hatter’s Army) in Wonderland, Guillaume in Martin Guerre

Cast recordings include: High Button Shoes (Stage Door Records)

Concerts include: Featured Singer in Starting Here, Principal Dancer in West End Does: The Magic of Animation (Heroes & Villains), Principal Dancer in West End Does: Christmas in Oz

Training: Urdang

Phoenix began her career at a young age, notably appearing as Young Nala in the The Lion King (UK Tour).

Credits whilst in Training: Oz in We Will Rock You (Shelley Williams) and Gabriella Montez in High School Musical (Omari Douglas).