Matthew Bourne’s Cinderella returns for its 30th anniversary with an almost entirely new cast
New Adventures has announced the full cast for its 2026–27 UK tour of Matthew Bourne’s Cinderella. The production returns for its 30th anniversary and will visit 17 venues over 24 weeks.
Set in London during the Second World War, Bourne’s version of the fairy tale centres on a wartime romance. After a chance meeting, Cinderella and a young RAF pilot spend one magical night together, long enough to fall in love, before the Blitz tears them apart.
Michela Meazza as the Step-Mother is the only link with the original 1997 cast. Bourne said:
It’s thrilling to welcome an almost entirely new cast to bring our epic wartime love story back to life for its 30th anniversary. In fact, apart from the wonderful Michela Meazza – who performed in the original production in 1997 – all the Principals will be taking on these coveted roles in Cinderella for the first time this season.
He added that 73% of the company have come through New Adventures’ talent development programmes, which are designed to combine “the finest world-class dance artists and the most exciting emerging talent that the UK has to offer”.
Imperial War Museums is an official partner of the tour and New Adventures will run dance workshops based on Cinderella at the museum’s Big Story Festival on Sunday 25 and Monday 26 October, inspired by its current exhibition, Childhood in War. The tour programme will include a conversation between the set and costume designer Lez Brotherston and IWM curator James Taylor about wartime artefacts and how they shaped the production’s design.
Brotherston’s Olivier Award-winning designs have lighting by Neil Austin, also an Olivier winner, and video and projection design by Duncan McLean. Paul Groothuis’s sound design places Prokofiev’s score within the sights and sounds of war-torn London.
Tour dates
The tour opens at Theatre Royal Plymouth (16–21 November 2026) and then plays Lowry, Salford (24–28 November 2026).
It moves to Sadler’s Wells for Christmas (1 December 2026 – 17 January 2027), New Adventures’ 24th Christmas season at the theatre.
In 2027 it visits 14 more venues: Milton Keynes, Woking, Birmingham, Liverpool, Hull, Nottingham, Southampton, Cardiff, Canterbury, Bradford, Norwich, Glasgow, Newcastle and Edinburgh.
Cast
Hannah Kremer and Katrina Lyndon share the title role. Reece Causton and Rory Macleod play Harry, the heroic pilot. James Lovell, Andy Monaghan and Kingston Taylor are The Angel, Cinderella’s “Fairy GodFather”. Michela Meazza and Daisy West play the Step-Mother, Sybil, and Nicole Kabera joins them in the role for the UK tour.
Cinderella’s step-brothers and step-sisters and the people of 1940s London are danced by Mark Austin, Benjamin Barlow Bazeley, Tom Barnes Standing, Isabella Chandler, Carla Contini, Adam Davies, Christina Gibbs, Louis Harris, Thomas Ireson, Rosanna Lindsey, Maisie Mwebe, Matthew Petty, Matthew Potulski, Holly Saw, Molly Shaw-Downie and Shakiera Ward. Cameron Allan, Ethan Fairclough, Woody Freeman and Harry Hincks make their New Adventures debuts in the production.
Graham Spicer, aka ‘Gramilano’, is a writer, director and photographer based in Milan. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy. His articles have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the Danza in Italia column for Dancing Times magazine. Graham was the historical advisor on Codice Carla, the 2023 documentary on Italian ballerina Carla Fracci.
Graham also works as a dance photographer, and his photos have appeared in many books, theatre programmes, and magazines, including Dancing Times, Dance Spirit and Ballet2000, as well as all the major Italian newspapers.
He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.
