Beauty and the Beast runs at the Alban Arena from Friday 4 December to Sunday 3 January, 54 performances, from £16 plus a £3.50 booking fee. Joe Swash stars.

The Alban Arena pantomime for 2026 is Beauty and the Beast, running from Friday 4 December 2026 to Sunday 3 January 2027. Tickets start at £16.00, plus a non-refundable £3.50 transaction fee on the booking rather than per ticket.

Everything below was checked on 5 September 2026 against the venue’s own event page and against its box office system, which publishes every performance.

Cast

The venue names five:

  • Joe Swash, billed as the headline draw
  • Michael J Batchelor as the dame, Madame Bellie Fillop
  • Kane Oliver Parry, whose credits include Matilda for the RSC and in the West End, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical and Wicked
  • Lottie Stone as Belle, who played Alice in the same company’s Dick Whittington
  • Phoebe Nixon as Fairy Cupid, a St Albans local and a London College of Music graduate

The script is by Paul Hendy and the production is by Evolution Productions, the team behind the Arena’s Aladdin.

Every performance date

There are 54 performances. The venue’s booking system has them all, and the pattern is not obvious from the run dates alone.

Date Times
Fri 4 Dec 7pm
Sat 5 Dec 2pm, 6pm
Sun 6 Dec 1pm, 5pm
Tue 8 Dec 10.15am (schools), 6pm
Wed 9 Dec 10.15am (schools), 6pm
Fri 11 Dec 10.15am (schools), 6pm
Sat 12 Dec 11am, 3pm, 7pm
Sun 13 Dec 1pm, 5pm
Mon 14 Dec 10.15am (schools), 6pm
Tue 15 Dec 10.15am (schools), 6pm
Wed 16 Dec 10.15am (schools), 6pm
Fri 18 Dec 6pm
Sat 19 Dec 11.30am, 3pm, 7pm
Sun 20 Dec 1pm, 5pm
Mon 21 Dec 2pm, 6pm
Tue 22 Dec 2pm, 6pm
Wed 23 Dec 2pm, 6pm
Thu 24 Dec 11am, 3pm
Sat 26 Dec 2pm, 6pm
Sun 27 Dec 1pm, 5pm
Mon 28 Dec 11.30am, 3pm, 7pm
Tue 29 Dec 2pm, 6pm
Wed 30 Dec 2pm, 6pm
Thu 31 Dec 11am, 3pm
Sat 2 Jan 11.30am, 3pm, 7pm
Sun 3 Jan 1pm, 5pm

Three things worth pulling out of that table.

The 10.15am performances are not on public sale. Six of them, on 8, 9, 11, 14, 15 and 16 December, are marked as not selling on the web in the venue’s own system. They are school performances. If you are booking for a family, the earliest weekday show is the 6pm one.

There are five dark days inside the run: Monday 7, Thursday 10 and Thursday 17 December, plus Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve both run, but matinees only, at 11am and 3pm.

The busiest Saturdays carry three shows: 12 and 19 December, 28 December and 2 January. If a 3pm on a December Saturday is sold out, the 11am or 11.30am on the same day is usually the one still open.

Access performances

  • BSL interpreted: Saturday 5 December at 6pm
  • Relaxed performance: Saturday 12 December at 11am

The venue describes the relaxed show as having reduced sound levels and softened special effects, an open door policy allowing movement in and out during the performance, and no change to the story. It is aimed at autistic audiences, younger children, people living with dementia and anyone with additional needs.

Booking and getting there

  • Box office: 01727 844488
  • Venue: The Alban Arena, Civic Centre, St Albans, AL1 3LD
  • Tickets went on general sale on 5 December 2025, a full year ahead, so the popular weekend slots have had a long run at selling

The Arena sits inside the Civic Centre, and the closest parking is the council’s own multi-storey behind it: the Civic Centre Multi-Storey, off Civic Close, AL1 3JS, with 117 spaces on the middle level and 74 in the basement. It charges £2.00 from 6.30pm to 10pm, which covers an evening performance, and £2.70 on Sundays and bank holidays.

For matinees you pay the day rate, £2.20 for an hour up to £6.20 for four. The alternative is Drovers Way multi-storey, AL3 5EB, 351 spaces, now ticketless and cashless. Note that the lifts at Drovers Way and Russell Avenue run only from 8am to 6pm, so neither works for step-free access leaving an evening show. Full tariffs are on our St Albans parking page, and the roadworks and travel page covers what is shut on the way in.

Other festive dates at the cathedral

If the panto is booked out, the cathedral’s own Christmas programme is free to attend and it publishes dates early. Carols on the Hour runs every hour from 11am, with the last at 5pm, on 13 December. The Live Nativity Trail is on the afternoon of 13 December, Christingle on 13 December, Lessons and Carols on 21 and 22 December, and Midnight Mass begins at 11pm on Christmas Eve.

One caution on that programme: the cathedral’s listing widget shows a start date one day earlier than the wording of each event blurb, so the 13 December events appear under 12 December in the date fields. The blurbs are the ones that match the calendar.

Everything here was verified against the venue’s and the cathedral’s own published material on 5 September 2026. Times and prices change; check before you book.

Sources