Cast announced for THE PRINCESS AND THE PAUPER at Mowlem Theatre

A new exciting family musical in the shape of The Princess and the Pauper has announced its cast today. The production will be a BSL-integrated production and will be performed at the Mowlem Theatre in Swanage from 17 – 28 August 2021.

Leading the cast will be Rhiannon Jones (Silent Witness) as Tess Canty and Hannah Brownlie (The Offenders) as Bess Tudor. They will be joined by David King Yombo (The Visit), Alex Scott Fairley (Blood Brothers) and Julie Wood (Radio Sea Breeze).

The story will follow Tess Canty and Elizabeth (Bess) Tudor, who look very similar but live completely different lives. One a princess, the other a pauper. Fate intervenes and soon the other must learn how the other lives.

The new production will use British Sign Language and incorporates deaf and hearing actors on all levels of deafness, with BSL-inspired choreography to enhance the magic and musicality of the performance to make a production suitable for the whole family. There will be an integrated interpreter in the hope of creating an equal experience for deaf and hearing audiences.

Katherine Mount, producer with Hordern Ciani, said: “As a professional actress and singer with a deaf child, I was profoundly affected by my initial belief that Ethan would never be able to access music. Alongside advice to keep background noise to a minimum to encourage listening skills, when Ethan was still a baby, I stopped playing music and found singing an emotional impossibility for years. But when sign song came along, it was life changing. Ethan joined The Kaos Signing Choir for Deaf and Hearing Children at the age of six and it was a revelation. Not only did he discover music for the first time, he also gained a new form of expression and had opportunity to perform in amazing venues, culminating in the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics 2012 and his very own CBBC documentary. After many years of struggling to find accessible shows to take my son to watch, producing theatre myself and experimenting with the use of British Sign Language in song, the idea for a fully integrated musical was developed and The Princess and the Pauper was born.”

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