These timeless tales – each a self-contained story – are cleverly woven together by a decidedly creative cast, carefully directed to maximise audience participation in each story. Young audience members form an integral part of the action as the highly skilled professional actors entice their participation in order to move the storyline forward, in fact, as audience participation changes the dynamics, each story may vary, with no two performances being the same!

A composite fantasy set by Grant Knottenbel transforms a collection of shapes into a pop-up book Library. Linda Wilson defines each of the stories with a series of costumes to complement each specific flavour and period. Sandy Dyer in turn choreographs all the carefully chosen songs as with musical direction by Heidi Edeling completing this colourful tapestry of stories magnificently. The production is produced and directed by Jill Girard and Keith Smith. “This is a style of theatre which we really love,” say Girard and Smith. “It allows us great creativity, with minimum restriction. The production is developed specifically to entertain, educate and encourage our young audiences to read – an education from the zany and avant garde to the more traditional.”

The cast is full of professional actors who are thrilled to be presenting this show to a fresh audience. Many of them have performed on stage before and they are multi-talented as they play different roles in the show.

Seam McGrath is a passionate performer with a background in musical theatre from the Tshwane University of Technology. He has been in a few Peoples Theatre shows before – namely Peter Rabbit and Other Tales, The Gingerbread Man, and The Jungle Book.

Kim Weinberg is a former Wits Drama graduate and she has performed in numerous film and television stints and she is excited to be part of this original fairy-tale production.

Jaydene Marais (15) is thrilled to be acting in this show. Marais has been nurtured in the Peoples Theatre productions since the age of nine. She started with a role in Winnie the Pooh and has done many other roles in the past few years.

Alex Marais (no relation) studied drama in Bloemfontein where he won the award for ‘Best Student Actor’. He has also performed with the Korean English Theatre Company.

Ntsebo Lerotholi is a multi-talented singer, actress and sound engineer. A career highlight for her was being in the top 30 of SA Idols, season seven.

Story theatre has been described as the most suitable style of theatre for children. Highly entertaining, visual, encouraging self-expression and participation, The Ugly Duckling and Other Stories runs at Peoples Theatre from Monday, 1 September to Sunday, 5 October. Performances during government school terms are weekdays at 09:00 and 11:00 and at 10:30 and 14:30 on Saturdays, Public Holidays and certain Sundays. During government school holidays, performances are at 10:30 and 14:30 from Mondays to Sundays.

Tickets are R110 for non-members, and ‘Kids Club’ members pay R70, with accompanying audience members paying R95 each. Special school performances are available at R60 per learner, with one complementary Educator ticket issued per 20 learners. Booking is essential by phoning the Peoples Theatre on 011 403 1563/2340.

For more information, visit www.peoplestheatre.co.za or email [email protected].