Children and adults from Bangor are working with award-winning, dance theatre company balletLORENT, to create a community cast to take part in its 2018 production of Rumpelstiltskin.

Following the success of their Snow White production back in 2016 which also show-cased a cast of local children, balletLORENT have run workshops in September 2018, with Ysgol Glancegin and Ysgol Coedmawr and Glanadda, in Bangor, and seven children were chosen to take part in the production at Pontio, 16thand 17thof November 2018.

Liv Lorent, Artistic Director and Choreographer, said: “We’re so pleased to have found a fantastic group of children in Bangor to become part of our team. At this age, children often have innate talent, a lack of self-consciousness and physical beauty in movement, which can be captured and channelled to great effect through projects like ours.”

The young cast of four to nine-year-olds, most of whom have never had any formal dance training before, will be joined by four older people who have been recruited from workshops with community groups in Neuadd Powis, Bangor University.

The young cast members are:

Young Rumpelstiltskin: Peter-James Hughes

Young Shepherd’s Daughter: Ffion Shan Angharad Clement

Ellie Mair Thomas
Maisie Graham
Leighton Edwards
Max Monserrate
Hazel Ethne Story
Reggie Davies
Eman Kashif
Begw Dafydd (reserve)
Bradley Richard Jones (reserve)

The adults cast members are:
Maggie Duce
Jean Williams
Gwenfor Roberts
Dilys Pritchard
Irene Wells (reserve)

Elen ap Robert, Pontio’s artistic director said: “It’s great to be working once again with balletLORENT and this time opening the opportunity up to adults as well. Their production of Snow White was such a success at Pontio, with two of the young cast returning this year to perform in Rumpelstiltskin. One of the images from Snow White can be seen on Gorad restaurant’s wall.”

All members of the intergenerational cast have been joined by balletLORENT’s professional dancers to take part in rehearsals since September in preparation for performances on 16thand 17thNovember.

Karolina Konior, a recent Fine Art graduate from Coleg Menai will also present new work for Pontio’s White Wall space – providing a creative documentation of the community engagement work surrounding balletLORENT’s visit to Bangor.

The second performances at Theatr Bryn Trefel, Pontio, on Saturday the 17thof November at 3pm will be a relaxed performance, which is adjusted to make the experience less stressful and more enjoyable. Typically changes will include house lights not being lowered as much as usual, volume reduction, removal of some special effects, audience free to come and go as you wish. This performance is open to all.

Rumpelstiltskin is the third and final part of balletLORENT’S trilogy of Brothers Grimm fairytales to tour to theatres across the UK following the award-winning and critically acclaimed Rapunzel (2012-2015), and then Snow White (2015-2016).

Choreographed and directed by balletLORENT’s Artistic Director Liv Lorent (MBE), Rumpelstiltskin reunites a team of world renowned collaborators who created Rapunzel and Snow White: Poet Laureate Dame Carol Ann Duffy (Whitbread, T.S. Eliot and Pinter Prize winner); five-time BAFTA nominated composer Murray Gold (Doctor Who); narrator Ben Crompton (Game of Thrones); BAFTA and Emmy Award winning costume designer Michele Clapton (Game of Thrones and The Crown); set designer Phil Eddolls (joint TMA award winner for Improbable’s The Hanging Man); and OBIE and Outer Critics Circle award-winning lighting designer Malcolm Rippeth.

balletLORENT: Rumpelstiltskin
Friday 16 November, 7pm
Saturday 17 November, 3pm
£15.50/£13.50 over 60
£10.50 students and under 18s
£45 family and friends ticket
pontio.co.uk / 01248 38 28 28