18 Oct 2021 - 31 Dec 2021

The Princess and The Pea

by Mike Kenny

This one hour of fun is packed with humour and memorable songs, including a romp through every type of princess you can imagine, with hilarious costumes to match.

Not for the fainthearted, fake princesses, or those who have trouble sleeping at night!

Do you want to hear a true story?
Imagine a place where what you see is not what it seems
With forgotten stories and forgotten things

Do you want to hear an exciting story?
Imagine princesses who don’t know they are princesses and
a prince who doesn’t want to be king

Do you want to hear a happy story?
Imagine a real Prince, discovering a real princess, and a story which ends happily-ever-after!

Set in the Museum of Forgotten Things, three musical curators, tell the amazing tale of the museums artefacts including the mystery of a little green pea and how it got there. This one hour of fun is packed with humour and memorable songs, including a romp through every type of princess you can imagine, with hilarious costumes to match.

The audience meet a demanding queen, an array of wannabe princesses, and our main characters, an unknown girl who is blown into the palace by a gust of wind, and an indecisive prince under pressure to find his real princess.

Will he ever find a real princess or his happy ever after?

This show was originally made by Tutti Frutti and York Theatre Royal in 2014 with an extensive tour and Christmas run at the Sheffield Crucible before playing to sell out audiences in Hong Kong and Singapore in January 2015. In this new and updated adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s popular story, Mike Kenny and the inventive Tutti Frutti team once again create a funny, original, beautiful retelling of this familiar tale.

‘Anyone who enjoys a charming, funny, inventive afternoon at the theatre will be sure to come out with a grin on their face’
– British Theatre Guide
‘Tutti Frutti enraptures its young audience with a wonderful and warm piece of theatre, enriched by Mike Kenny’s inventive script’
– The Stage
‘Prior to this outing if you’d asked me if theatre was toddler friendly I’d have laughed and said no way. But Bobby sat wide-eyed and still(ish) for 60 minutes! What a winner!’
– YorkMix

Tour Dates

Previous Dates

16 Oct 2021
19 Oct 2021

The Princess and The Pea

Harehills School, Shine Building, Leeds
21 Oct 2021
-
26 Oct 2021

The Princess and The Pea

York Theatre Royal
27 Oct 2021
28 Oct 2021
29 Oct 2021
30 Oct 2021
31 Oct 2021
9 Nov 2021

The Princess and The Pea

Thornton Dale Primary, Pickering
10 Nov 2021

The Princess and The Pea

Lily Lane Primary School
12 Nov 2021

The Princess and The Pea

Harlesden Primary School
14 Nov 2021

The Princess and The Pea

Mansfield Central Library, Spark Arts
15 Nov 2021

The Princess and The Pea

D’eyncourt Primary School
16 Nov 2021

The Princess and The Pea

Pickering Infant and Nursery School
18 Nov 2021

The Princess and The Pea

Seacroft Grange Primary School, Leeds
26 Nov 2021
27 Nov 2021
28 Nov 2021
1 Dec 2021

The Princess and The Pea

Stocksbridge Nursery Infant School
2 Dec 2021
4 Dec 2021
-
18 Dec 2021

The Princess and The Pea

Room 700, Leeds Central Library
21 Dec 2021
-
2 Jan 2022

Creative Team

Callum Macdonald

Callum is a lighting designer based in the Suffolk countryside with a rapidly growing design portfolio in a variety of genres and styles. Callum is keen to work on productions that make theatre accessible to all, be it the way that the show is presented or by the story it tells.

Catherine Chapman

Set and Costume Designer

Catherine has been a freelance designer for fifteen years. Her designs have travelled the world with audiences seeing her work in Toyko, New York and Kong Hong. She first worked with Tutti Frutti in 2005 and over the years has designed many shows for the company including Ugly Duckling, Rapunzel, Hare and Tortoise, Monday’s Child, and The Princess and The Pea.

Christella Litras

Musical Director

Christella Litras is a songwriter, musician, composer, vocal arranger, record producer, creative support officer (Leeds Playhouse) and founding member of Caution Collective. She composed the musical score for Windrush: Movement of the People by Phoenix Dance Theatre, which celebrated the 70th anniversary of the arrival of the SS Empire Windrush.

Mike Kenny

Writer

Mike Kenny is one of England’s leading writers specialising in young people’s theatre. He was included in the Independent on Sunday’s list of Top Ten Living Playwrights and his plays are performed regularly throughout the UK and internationally. Mike won the 2015 Writers' Guild Award for Best Play for Younger Audiences with Three Wise Monkeys.

NikNak

An award-winning storyteller in her own right, NikNak is devoted to developing her unique practice as a DJ and turntablist, sound artist/composer, producer, tutor, sound engineer and radio presenter. She’s also a strong advocate for diverse representation in the music industry, especially within the DJ and music production realms, and musician wellbeing/mental health.

Sundeep Saini

Sundeep is a movement director and choreographer passionate about driving narrative through physicality and immersive performance. As a parent to two young children, she is committed to making excellent theatre for young audiences and families, and has worked for many regional theatres including Watford Palace Theatre, Queens Theatre Hornchurch and The New Wolsey.

Warda Abbasi

Warda is a miniature model-maker with a focus on sets for theatre, film, TV and commercials. Over recent years she has self-taught many of the necessary skills for design and model making, and has worked as assistant designer at Tutti Frutti and Leeds Playhouse.

Wendy Harris

Artistic Director, Chair of PYA England

Wendy has held the position of artistic director at Tutti Frutti since 2005, touring nationally and internationally, co-producing the Little Feet Festival of Children’s Theatre, and leading on the development programmes and arts engagement work.

Touring Team

Hannah Victoria

Hannah’s theatrical performances include Gerda in Snow Queen, The Little Mix Tribute Show, and the UK and international tour of Madagascar. Whilst in training she was cast as Deloris Van Cartier in Sister Act and Crystal Gordon in Bad Girls, The Musical. Hannah graduated from Edge Hill University in 2018 with a BA (Hons) in Musical Theatre.

McKenzie Alexander

McKenzie graduated from Guildford School of Acting and then became part of the Tutti team performing in The Ugly Duckling. Since then, he has worked with the Doctor Who franchise, appeared in the music video for Ellie Goulding’s Sixteen and made his own film with the BBC and New Creatives.

Kirsty Smith

Kirsty is a Nottingham-based freelance stage manager. Kirsty has many years of professional experience within the theatre industry spreading out across the UK. She has toured with multiple different children's shows including The Boy Who Bit Picasso, Getting dressed, Mirror, Mirror and Tutti Frutti shows Keepy Uppy and The Boy Who Cried Wolf.

Sophia Hatfield

Sophia Hatfield is an actor-musician and theatre-maker. She trained at Manchester School of Theatre and has since worked extensively with theatres companies and venues across the UK, including Northern Broadsides, Derby Theatre and M6 Theatre. She also runs Stute Theatre, an award-winning multidisciplinary theatre company that pushes the limits of small-scale touring.

Information for Families

We create shows especially for children aged 3+ and their families and carers

Are you looking to introduce your children to the magic of live theatre? Find out where to see our shows, what to expect when you see a show, and how we can support your child’s learning through live performance.

Information for Families

Information for Venues, Schools & International

Information for Venues, Schools & International

Schools

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Venues

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International

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Schools

We create our shows to be easily transferred and enjoyed in a school setting.
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Venues

Would you like to bring a Tutti Frutti show to your venue? Find out more in this section.
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International

We are proud to have previously toured to America, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Poland.
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