balletLORENT tour Carol Ann Duffy's Rapunzel

Local children are set to join professional dancers onstage in balletLORENT’s ballet adaptation of Rapunzel, a collaboration with some big names.

The classic fairtytale has been re-developed by Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, whose award-winning poetry is studied nationwide at both GCSE and A-level, and is Professor of Contemporary Poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University.

The show features original music composed and performed by Doctor Who composer Murray Gold, with costumes designed and realised by Game of Thrones costume designer Michele Clapton. Manchester born actress Lesley Sharp narrates the story.

The show tours to the Lowry later this month and nine young people from the North West have been chosen to be part of the ensemble in these performances of Rapunzel.

balletLORENT are currently seeking three local toddlers and their parents to join the performance for The Lowry dates and Liv Lorent is bravely inviting the chosen preschoolers to "play freely" for an entire scene, making every performance unique. All the children will be rehearsing at The Lowry from Tue 22 – Fri 25 April.

Rapunzel marks Carol Ann Duffy’s first collaboration for dance, following her previous experience of writing for the stage. Writing a new version of the classic story, she says: "Fairy tales are both strange and familiar, frightening and reassuring, and provide a map of childhood which we can still use as adults to remember who we are. Their re-telling and reinterpretation is part of the lifeblood of literature"

Rapunzel tours to Aberdeen (11 – 12 April), London (18 – 19 April), Salford (26 -27 April), Warwick (29 – 31 May) and Edinburgh (18 – 19 September).